ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the relationship between doubt and ignorance as understood in relation to science, then considers whether trust may serve as an antidote to doubt in science and with respect to scientists. One cannot tell whether doubt breeds ignorance or not unless ignorance has been clearly defined. Trust entails a positive practice of ignorance, as one has to voluntarily accept being vulnerable to others while renouncing control to the person to whom delegation has been given. In other words, to trust is deliberately accepting epistemic asymmetry and its possible consequences. Doubt should not be mistaken for the outcome of propaganda as it is a constitutive feature of scientific activity. Ignorance should not be seen as necessarily inducing irrational outcomes since one may act rationally without knowing that one does so. It is founded that it is useless to think that citizens’ opposition to powers and institutions can be fought against simply by campaigns designed to restore trust.
