Trust is a necessity and a need. Not trusting others means withdrawing from the world and nurturing anxiety and suspicion. On the one hand, we are all willing to have confidence in others because we have experienced the security of maternal care. On the other hand, we cannot ignore the fact that trusting others always involves a degree of risk. So how should we behave? Trust is a key element of emotional relationships, and it is in this context that we experience, on a daily basis, the need for and the presence of trust. But we also place trust in institutions, which underpin loyalty pacts among individuals. Finally, we can trust in a higher power – God – in the hope of achieving salvation and bliss. This book explores the many ways in which trust manifests itself. Discarding the easy spontaneity associated with “feel-good” sentiments, the author also explains why the popular Italian saying “to trust is good, not to trust is better” is essentially meaningless: it takes for granted an impossible self-reliance. Indeed, trust is generosity, above all.

Salvatore Natoli formerly taught Theoretical Philosophy at the Bicocca University and History of Ideas at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, both in Milan.