CFP: Workshop on Trust and Disagreement in Institutions

The crucial institutions in todays liberal democracies, democratic institutions, science, public deliberation, the news media, public authorities and also private companies depend on various forms of trust: trust in people, processes, etc. We are, in certain crucial ways, fundamentally related to these institutions by relations of trust. Typically, we are not in a position to gather independent evidence for the reliability or trustworthiness of these institutions and the outcomes they produce, nor can we independently check these. So, when we rely on them or accept their authority, this is in part because we trust them (in some sense). Moreover, most institutions, including science, depend on complex socio-technical distributions of cognitive labor and decision-making power, e.g. in the context of biobanks, big data, algorithmic decision making, self-driving cars and this distribution of labor and decision-making also requires trust. Clearly, however, we not always agree about what or whom to trust; we diverge in the ways that we trust one another, or trust institutions, and institutions are sometimes affected by internal disagreement and distrust. The aim of the workshop is to explore these forms of trust. What are the conditions of trust in institutions? What are the relations between trust, trustworthiness, transparency and accountability? What are the condition under which disagreement presents a threat to trust? What are effective and legitimate means of maintaining or manufacturing trust? 

There will be some additional slots available for presentations, and we would very much welcome submissions. If you are interested in giving a presentation, please send an abstract of your presentation to [email protected] no later than October 10th, 2016. The abstract should be approx. 1 page, and include e-mail address and institutional affiliation. We will notify you about acceptance no later than October 15, 2016. Note that, unfortunately, we will not be able to cover expenses for travel and accommodation for submitted presentations.

Confirmed speakers: Judith Simon, Klemens Kappel, Ori Freiman, Arnon Keren, Mark Alfano, Kristina Rolin, Tria Gkouvas