John Locke

From TrustLet, a free, collaborative project for collecting and analyzing information about trust metrics.

John Locke (August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704) was an English philosopher. Locke is considered the first of the British Empiricists, but is equally important to social contract theory. More about Locke can be found in his Wikipedia page.

It is claimed in Reputation is in the eye of the beholder: on subjectivity and objectivity of trust statements that Locke is the author of the first trust metric.

It is interesting to note how the philosopher John Locke in 1680 already provided what we have called a trust metric: “Probability then being to supply the defect of our knowledge, the grounds of it are these two following: First, the conformity of anything with our own knowledge, observation and experience. Secondly, The testimony of others, vouching their observation and experience. In the testimony of others is to be considered: (1) The number. (2) The integrity. (3) The skill of the witnesses. (4) The design of the author, where it is a testimony out of a book cited. (5) The consistency of the parts and circumstances of the relation. (6) Contrary testimonies.”. From "An Essay concerning Human Understanding" by John Locke. Harvester Press, Sussex, 1680. This quotation can give an idea of how many different models for representing and exploiting trust have been suggested over the centuries.