Divided Uncertainty: A phenomenology of trust and confidence

Trust as a concept is inherently intertwined with institutional concepts. Trust, according to contemporary research, may be directed at both people and institutions, trust may in itself be an institution, and the influence of institutions may affect both trust in other people and trust in other institutions. This conceptual stretching takes place at the expense of accuracy and clarity clouding our understanding of the multiple levels involved in trusting. This chapter seeks to clarify this issue conceptually by comparing and developing Niklas Luhmann’s system theoretical investigation of trust and confidence with Knud E. Løgstrup’s phenomenology of trust. The main argument presented here is that while Luhmann’s analysis of trust and confidence remains one of the most powerful and persuasive it is only when combining it with Løgstrup’s phenomenology of trusting as situated process that the linkages between trust and confidence – the interpersonal and the institutional – emerges.