Abstract

In this dissertation, I explore the nature of trust and how relationships are not only the environment where trust arises and flourishes, but more importantly, they provide its normative content. Relationships, I argue following Joseph Raz, are constituted by norms—ways in which we are committed to acting with each other as fellow participants. Trust, thus, implies a belief that our trustees will follow through with such norms, rather than aiming at particular actions. This framework grants participants agency in both shaping their relationships and determining appropriate actions within them, illuminating central aspects of trust's phenomenology, including its characteristic second-personal character. Each chapter of this dissertation focuses on a different puzzle in the trust literature, demonstrating the advantages of thinking of trust through a relational lens: In the first chapter, "Navigating Vagueness: Rule-Following and The Scope of Trust," I account for trustee discretion when explicitly defined expectations cannot be met. In the second chapter, "'I Trust You!' Sure, But With What? Understanding Broad Trust," I examine the phenomenon of broad trust—instances where we trust someone in open-ended ways that seem unconditional yet clearly have implicit terms and limits. Finally, in the third chapter, "Breaking Trust and Relocating Reactive Feelings," I aim to understand why trust violations typically represent not merely local practical failures but disregard for the relationship as a whole.