ABSTRACT
Social order is fundamentally dependent on social trust. As Moscovici (1993) noted, in our times any kind of phenomenon tends to become explained in terms of sociology and economics. But originally, trust (fiducia) was a personal phenomenon at least since Peter Lombard (c. 1100–60) denoted the volitional aspect (facultas voluntatis) of Medieval Christian faith (fides). In Medieval Christianity,
[e]very act of religious faith shows two sides or aspects – a cognitive and volitional. It is at once an affirmation of truth and a surrender to the truth affirmed. Apart from the first, it would be blind; apart from the second, without any practical significance. The fact that the emphasis is sometimes placed on the one and sometimes on the other leads to two relatively distinct notions of faith. When the volitional aspect is emphasized, we have the notion commonly denoted by the word ‘trust’ […]; when the cognitive, that denoted by the word ‘belief’.
Morgan, 1921: 689