Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 12:45:37 -0500 (EST)
From: "Chris M. Sciabarra" <sciabrrc-AT-is2.NYU.EDU>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Trust


On 21 Jan 1997, Chris Burford wrote:
> I wonder whether Chris S would have any comment on this passage from
> Fukuyama, which to my surprise I agreed with. It seems to me 
> that an extreme libertarian position can sometimes come full 
> circle, and stress, although in a different way, the need for 
> social accountability.
> 
> "Trust is the expectation that arises within a community of 
> regular, honest and co-operative behaviour, based on commonly
> shared norms, on the part of other members of that community...
> By contrast, people who do not trust one another will end up 
> cooperating only under a system of formal rules and regulations,
> which have to be negotiated, agreed to, litigated, and enforced, 
> sometimes by coercive means."
> from "Trust, the social virtues and the creation of prosperity"
> Hamish Hamilton, 1995.
	Very interesting quote from Fukuyama.  I'd say there is not reason
why the two positions are mutually exclusive.  Even the system of formal
rules and regulations must ULTIMATELY be accepted by entrusting the
principles upon which they are founded, and the institutions which enforce
them.  When the system of formal rules begins to break down, it is usually
because it has created contradictory regulations, such that adhering to
one becomes the basis for violating another.  At that point, coercion
becomes the perceived panacea, and the process of negotiating and
litigating and cross-enforcing becomes a cover for inter-group warfare.
	Still, a humane community, libertarian for sure, owes its long-run
survival to principles of trust and cooperation.  Since these are
principles accepted ultimately by voluntary choice and through the
perpetuation of social actions among people in a community, I see no
reason why they are in conflict with a libertarian ethos.
					- Chris
=================================================Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Ph.D
Visiting Scholar, NYU Department of Politics
INTERNET:  sciabrrc-AT-is2.nyu.edu
http://pages.nyu.edu/~sciabrrc
=================================================


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