How to Trust a Molecule? The Case of Cyclodextrins Entering the Nanorealm

Overview & Synopsis

This contribution emerged from an open, and continuing, discussion between a chemist and a philosopher, which resulted in a common awareness of the importance of trusting objects. The purpose of this biography of a molecular object - cyclodextrin - is both descriptive and normative. Descriptive: to understand how a thing can become an object of trust or/and distrust. The biography reveals three layers of valuation sustaining the process of generating trust: reputation, semiosis, and ontology. The first one acts at the level of actors' strategies and their interplay with regulations, the second operates with value-laden images conditioning the actors' expectations, and the last concerns the changing relationships between CD-technology and nature. As to the normative purpose, we aim at evaluating these valuations in order to allow critical trust generation. Finally, we try to appraise how nanotechnology reconfigures trust in objects by bringing visibility to the valuations.