Perceived common interest suffices to generate contract-keeping without prior trust
Evidence
Hume made the case for this process absolutely clear: When each individual perceives the same sense of interest in all his fellows, he immediately performs his part of any contract, as being assur’d that they will not be wanting in theirs. All of them, by concert enter into a scheme of actions, calculated for common benefit, and agree to be true to their words; nor is there anything requisite to form this concert or connection, but that every one have a sense of interest in the faithful fulfilling of engagements, and express that sense to other members of the society. This immediately causes that interest to operate upon them and interest is the first obligation to the performance of promises. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2795
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Hume’s ‘express that sense to other members of the society’ presupposes mutual observability — exactly the channel Saramago’s blindness severs, which is why the concert fails.
Related
- Hume held that shared perceived self-interest, not morals, first obliges promise-keeping. (similarity 0.86)
- Trust is encapsulated interest achievable through many incentive mechanisms (similarity 0.82)
- Learning-based trust fits the encapsulated-interest model through iterated incentives (similarity 0.81)
- Interest-based trust resists generalization from individuals to institutions and groups (similarity 0.80)
- Institutions can mimic encapsulated-interest incentives to substitute for ongoing relationships. (similarity 0.79)
- Instrumental friendliness cannot generate genuine trust (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Mere incentive compatibility is insufficient for trust as encapsulated interest
#contradicts(0.85) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 71 - Trust is encapsulated interest achievable through many incentive mechanisms
#qualifies(0.80) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 151 - Actual trustworthiness combines motives that resist institutional mimicry
#contradicts(0.80) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 282 - Mutual trust in iterated exchange is selffulfilling through aligned incentives
#expands(0.75) - Learning-based trust fits the encapsulated-interest model through iterated incentives
#expands(0.70) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 608