We develop a comprehensive account of self-trust in its role-mediated, general and universal forms, highlight the connection between self-trust and personal autonomy, and argue that we can have too much or too little self-trust. Both can undermine personal autonomy. Our account explicates and supports three compelling theses about trust: that interpersonal trust is often trust in a person in a social role (Thesis One); that self-trust is a nonprototypical variant of interpersonal trust (Thesis Two); and that self-trust is essential to autonomy (Thesis Three).
