The role of trust in argumentation

Abstract

Argumentation is important for sharing knowledge and infor-mation. Given that the receiver of an argument purportedly engages first and foremost with its content, one might expect trust to play a negligible epistemic role, as opposed to its crucial role in testimony. I argue on the con-trary that trust plays a fundamental role in argumentative engagement. I pre-sent a realistic social epistemological account of argumentation inspired by social exchange theory. Here, argu-mentation is a form of epistemic ex-change. I illustrate my argument with two real-life examples: vaccination hesitancy, and the undermining of the credibility of traditional sources of in-formation by authoritarian politicians.