The Faculty Colloquia aim to cover the broad scope of Erasmus School of Philosophy (ESPhil), in analytic and continental philosophy as well as the history of philosophy. Speakers are free in their choice of the subject-matter of their talks, but are requested to present a talk accessible to all philosophers, students notably included.
Title: Brian Cummings – Erasmus on Trust
Date: 14 November 2023 (11:00 -13:00)
Room: Mandeville T3-24
Zoom: https://eur-nl.zoom.us/j/94955856704
Abstract
Two-thirds of people think that other people live in a bubble on the internet, looking for opinions they already agree with. But only one-third of people think this is true of themselves. These figures come from an Ipsos survey in 2018; hardly anyone thinks things are getting any better today. We live in a crisis of trust. Yet it is not the first such crisis. In 1520 Erasmus and Luther took opposite positions on the issue of "trust"; indeed, they could not agree on what "trust" means. Ideas of "trust" are fundamental not only in politics and religion, but also for philosophy and science. In this lecture, Cummings examines the Greek and Latin words for "trust" in the New Testament, and how these arguments continue to be represented today, especially in the US Election five hundred years after Erasmus, in 2020.
Bio
Brian Cummings currently holds a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship, and in Autumn 2023 he will become the Erasmus Collection Fellow in Rotterdam and visiting fellow at ICON (University of Utrecht). He is Anniversary Professor at the University of York, UK, and a Fellow of the British Academy.
