Trust In Epistemology

Trust is universal in our daily lives,and it is relevant to our life,society,and living environment.However,it is surprising that the topic of trust raised the discussion and attention in philosophy in these years.Traditionally,the epistemology has forbidden to acquire knowledge by trusting.Because of the incompleteness of the trust.The paper pay attention to the role of trust in knowledge,including scientific knowledge and non-scientific knowledge,and at beginning of testimony.The paper stressed that trust played an important role for us in knowledge,and indicating the relation of trust and testimony knowledge.Then I would elaborate the explanation about the role of trust in Reductionism and non-Reductionism of testimony.According to reductionism,hearers must possess non-testimonial positive reasons in order to accept the testimony of speakers with justification or warrant and,thus,such justification or warrant is said to reduce to that provided by more basic epistemic sources,such as sense perception,memory,and reason.The main representative is David Hume and Elizabeth Fricker.On the other hand,non-reductionism,which holds that hearers need not possess appropriate positive reasons for testimonial justification or warrant,thereby rendering testimony just as basic an epistemic source as sense perception,memory,and reason.The main representative is Thomas Reid and Edward Hinchman.The reductionism judge the credibility of the testimony by the principles of Hume's human nature and the principle of reduce to their own experience.In my opinion,The reductionism of testimony has the problem of individualism.And trust seems to exist in the "self-trust" in the reductionism of testimony.That is,The object of trust is confined to personal experience.Therefore,the problem of reductionism,the incompleteness of the trust,is more prominent.Especially in scientific knowledge.For example,the unobservable and irreducible things,how to reduce to the scope of personal experience within it?The reductionism theory is reliability in obtaining several empirical knowledge.As a result of individualism's shortcomings and limitations,the theory of reductionism can't explain more knowledge.And ultimately lead to the possibility of non-reductionism.The result of this theory seems to be a more direct and perfect.Say S tells A that p.A thereby gains access to an entitlement to believe that p directly,claim anti-reductionists.When a speaker tells her hearer that p,she intends that he gain access to a prima facie reason to believe that p that derives not from evidence but from his mere understanding of her act.Unlike mere assertions,acts of telling give reasons directly.They give reasons by inviting the hearer's trust.This yields a novel form of anti-reductionism in the epistemology of testimony.The status of testimony as a sui generis source of epistemic warrant is entailed by the nature of the act of telling.However,in my opinion,The non-reductionism theory,represented by Hinchman,implies the intrinsic composition of the reductionism.And both of them has the same goal and foundation.The connotation of the entitlement,and the understanding of the way of behavior,as which implied the empirical component of the reductionism in the process of the Hinchman's entitlement reductionism.This shows that the reductionism and non-reductionism of the two sides tend to converge towards the trend.Therefore,The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the important role of trust in the way of acquiring knowledge,and shows the shortcomings and limitations of reductionism and non-reductionism.It is the common problem that makes the two sides tend to confront the integration.Particularly,We should hold an intrinsic normative dimension for the sustainable development of trust.