Dependence, Independence, Reliability

Independence is generally regarded as superior to Dependence. However, that priority is itself contingent on circumstances. For, if the antecedent condition is one of Interdependence, then Independence connotes a loss of trust and an unraveling of a social fabric. Furthermore, Independence has no positive content on which to base a comparison. Now, the underlying problem in these evaluations is that the concept of which Independence is the negation is itself a negative one, which preempts the possibility of establishing a positive criterion for these interrelations. Instead, an alternative ground of them can be the converse of Dependence--Reliability, with respect to which Dependence is Unreliability, and, thus, in turn, improvement with respect to which is the achievement of Reliability. The result is, therefore, not social disintegration, i. e. an aggregate of mutually independent entities, but a network of mutually reliable members.