“Being free is not doing whatever you want.”

BarcelonaWe live surrounded by mistrust. We don't trust governments, speeches, or promises. We don't trust politics or political parties because "they don't represent us." We don't trust AI because, despite the advantages it offers, we're afraid it might affect our privacy. We don't trust the media because they can be a source of fake newsWe don't even trust each other, or our own decisions. And yet, we continue to live together, share public spaces, and have the same need for mutual aid, although many of us may have forgotten. How can we live in a world where many of us no longer believe in the common good? Professor of moral philosophy Victoria Camps discusses all of this in her new book, The society of distrust (Arpa, 2025), born from a reflection made after the pandemic.

"An experience like that should have made us realize that we are all interdependent, that we need each other and that we need to take care of each other," Camps reflects. Those months of unemployment and a state of alarm should have made us aware that, at some point in life, we all need help and protection. However, according to the philosopher, this paradigm shift never fully occurred; rather, we have continued going in the opposite direction.

We find ourselves in a time marked by dissatisfaction, malaise, and discontent, states of mind largely derived from the continuous crises that have occurred, as well as the inability of politicians to manage them. However, "crises cause malaise but are, at the same time, optimal opportunities for reflection on possibilities for improvement. But this doesn't seem to be the case," she reflects.

"The emergence of neoliberal society has led us to an excessively individualistic and selfish conception of freedom, and we live in a climate of constant confrontation and discord," Camps continues. This state of "constant fighting" does not encourage cooperation or social cohesion, which, according to the professor, is what we need to reflect on the challenges we face as a society.

But, above all, what is the basis of trust? For the author, trust is "placing expectations in others." These "others" can be both people and institutions. In any case, the basis of trust is waiting for the expectations we have for something to be met. Why are these expectations lost? "Because what is expected of people and institutions is not met," she emphasizes. Ethics cannot be thought of as a requirement that is part of the human condition if, from the outset, we distrust its possibilities for improvement.

Personal distrust

Beyond politics, on a personal level, trust in others has also lost significant importance in recent times. "Since modernity, the idea of an autonomous, self-sufficient individual who is needed by no one has been fostered," he continues. An idea that utilizes the concept of individual freedom and the ability to satisfy one's own desires. "Some say that being free is doing what you want, what interests you, without going any further or taking into account that freedom is, in a moral sense, building one's own personality, and not one that is given to us by the different influences we receive," Camps clarifies.

A personality that, on the other hand, doesn't end with the same person, but also takes into account the needs and obligations to others. "Being free is asking yourself what I should do at any given moment. And, in a moral sense, others should always be included," he points out.

In a world where mistrust reigns, we always have a lot to lose. "We are losing the foundations of coexistence and social cohesion, of working together for a world that improves in everything that is failing, which is many things, and increasingly so," Camps laments. Without the foundation of a democracy, which is a demos, a cohesive people that has a ethos, common values, it's very difficult to walk together and improve overall. "Each person tries to improve their own life, but that doesn't always improve the whole," she points out.

How can we transcend mistrust and trust others again? For Camps, it's necessary to correct this idea of freedom and for everyone to become aware of the ethics that imply the capacity and ability to be free, taking into account collective obligations.

For the philosopher, there is still hope. "I always say that, if we talk about ethics, we must have hope, because ethics is the belief that everything that should be can become reality," she clarifies. If hope doesn't exist, there's no point in developing ethical theories or talking about ethics.