Trust facilitates communication, love, friendship, and co-operation and is fundamentally important to human relationships and personal development. Using examples from daily life, interviews, literature, and film, Govier describes the role of trust in friendship and in family relationships as well as the connection between self-trust, self-respect, and self-esteem. She examines the reasons we trust or distrust others and ourselves, and the expectations and vulnerabilities that accompany those attitudes. But trust should not be blind. Acknowledging that distrust is often warranted, Govier describes strategies for coping with distrust and designing workable relationships despite it. She also examines situations in which the integrity of interpersonal relationships has been violated by serious breaches of trust and explores themes of forgiveness, reconciliation, and the restoration of trust. By encouraging reflection on our own attitudes of trust and distrust, this fascinating book points the way to a better understanding of our relationships and ourselves.

Trudy Govier is a Canadian philosopher with an enduring interest in the ethics and politics of peace. She is the author of the widely used text A Practical Study of Argument and several other books.

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"Dilemmas of Trust is wide ranging, imaginative, and humane -- it takes into account many facets of personal experience and displays keen awareness of how complex many life situations can be. It speaks plainly and directly to the reader, draws on a wealth of examples, and holds one's attention from beginning to end. It is a pleasure to read." André Gombay, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto