The impact of trust on business,international security and the quality of life

The theses supported in this essay are that the world is to some extent constructed by each of us, that it can and ought to be constructed in a more benign way, that such construction will require more trust than most people are currently willing to grant, and that most of us will be better off if most of us can manage to be more trusting in spite of our doubts. Alex Michalos is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Business Ethics, the Editor of Social Indicators Research and the author of 12 books and over 5 dozen articles. His five volume North American Social Report received the 1984 Canadian Secretary of State's Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Studies in the field of Canadian Studies. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Social Sciences at the University of Guelph, Ontario.Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the International Conference on Social Reporting at the Science Centre of Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, September 18–20, 1989 and at a luncheon meeting of the Centre for Ethics and Corporate Policy, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 1989. I would like to thank the following people for helpful comments: Deborah C. Poff, Frank M. Andrews, Bruce Headey, Wolfgang Zapf, M. Harvey Brenner, Leo Groarke, Trudy Govier, Jean Smith and Shirley Farlinger.