[1985] Trust B, i.e., to deem someone morally trustworthy3, and reference to "others' competence" reflects D.E. Cooper's [1985] Trust C, i.e., a confidence in another's abilities and knowledge. Love and trust are linked because in a relationship of love we trust our beloved to have the good will not to harm us. Following Baier's [1986] definition of 'trust', I believe it is evident that trustworthiness is morally required in love relationships of all kinds, such as friendships, marriages, and families, because it is within these relationships where people most likely allow and expect others to care for them and where people most often have shared responsibilities and commitments. Less obvious is the relationship between trust and obligation. Baier [1985a] maintains that the ethics of obligation are covered by a broader ethic of trust, because "to recognize a set of obligations is to trust some group of persons to instill them, to demand that they be met, possibly to levy sanctions if they are not, and this is to trust persons with very significant coercive power over others" [p.58]. Following the above definition of 'trust', the 3The idea that trusting involves a moral dimension has also been acknowledged by Houston and Diller [1992]. They state, "Trust is what makes the ontological relations we have with one another an ethical relation— our interdependence is not merely that of trees and oxygen, of snakes and rodents, or magnetic fields and positions" [Houston & Diller, p. 378]. In other words, trust between persons is not any form of interaction. This form of trust necessarily entails moral concerns. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.