Abstract

Trust is essential to human society and the good life. At the same time, citizens of developed countries spend more and more time in virtual environments. This collection asks: How far do virtual environments, especially those affiliated with Web 2.0, challenge and foster trust?

Opening chapters establish historical, linguistic, and philosophical foundations for key concepts of trust, embodiment, virtuality, and virtual worlds. Four philosophers then analyze how trust—historically interwoven with embodied co-presence—may be enhanced through online environments. Final chapters tackle the specific challenges of virtual child pornography and democratic deliberation online.

This is the first collection devoted exclusively to the philosophical dimensions of trust and virtual worlds. In doing so it helps to bring the reader up to date on the relevant concepts and issues, and on ways in which widely ranging insights and approaches may nonetheless cohere into a reasonably comprehensive account of trust.