Trust sits between faith and confidence on an evidence-affect continuum

Evidence

I wish to propose a continuum of words connoting belief based on the degree to which they rest on evidence of the senses. Faith requires no evidence; trust is an expectation based on inconclusive evidence, is tolerant of uncertainty or risk; confidence is a strong conviction based on substantial evidence or logical deduction. These are all subjective attitudes. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2409

To summarize, I situate the notion in a set of belief concepts bounded at the extremes by faith and confidence, where the variable significance of evidence or proof is matched by a compensating level of affectivity. As such, trust is located in the no man’s land between status and contract, the poles of primitive and modern society in evolutionary theory (Maine 1861). — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2425

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise operational definitions of faith/trust/confidence along an evidence continuum — essential vocabulary for the Luhmann/Hardin synthesis.
• XREF: Trust as ‘tolerant of uncertainty or risk’ maps directly to Hardin’s account of trust under observability constraints. — connects to: Trust is a three-part cognitive relation grounded in truth, not choice; Trust is confidence expressing faith in others’ probity or in abstract principles. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 88; Trusting always exceeds available evidence; reasons for trust are retrospective self-justification (+5 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The inverse relationship between evidence and affectivity needed to sustain belief is genuinely subtle — when proof fails, compensating emotional investment must rise, which blindness in Saramago forces to its extreme.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2409; Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2425

Broader Connections

• Trust differs from confidence in that trust acknowledges alternatives and risks, confidence does not. #expands (0.95) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 81
• Trust is confidence expressing faith in others’ probity or in abstract principles. #expands (0.90) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 88
• Trusting always exceeds available evidence; reasons for trust are retrospective self-justification #exemplifies (0.85)
• Whether disappointment depends on one’s own behavior distinguishes trust from mere confidence #epitomizes (0.80)
• Trust reduces complexity by substituting inner certainty for external certainty #expands (0.75) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 154