Obstacles to Being Trustworthy
This chapter explores the many ways in which practical circumstances can make it more difficult for us to be trustworthy. In the book as a whole, trustworthiness is understood as a matter of avoiding unfulfilled commitments. Thus we have two levers to operate in the pursuit of trustworthiness: we can try to adjust our commitments, and we can try to adjust our actions. Operating these levers can in turn be thought of as involving four elements. We need control over whether we incur new commitments, and insight into what competences we have. Then we need insight into what commitments we have incurred, and control over our actions, in order to bring them in line with our commitments. The chapter explores obstacles which can arise in addressing each of these four challenges; in each case, there are many ways in which our circumstances can make it harder for us to be trustworthy.