Assume Good Faith
This is one of the Principles of Design from Trust. In fact, it's the first one.
It's also a foundational principle of Open Source software, Wikipedia, and the Internet — all of which are fab examples of Design from Trust. It's popular enough in those communities that it is abbreviated to AGF.
Another phrasing is Assume Good Intent. We have no strong feelings either way, but AGF is not likely to be confused with Artificial General Intelligence, so we lean that way.
While considering Assume Good Faith can get one feeling overly optimistic, considering its opposite is sobering. Assuming Bad Faith is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. It creates a downward spiral.
It's this assumption that just about anyone could be a bad actor that has given us the dysfunctional institutions we're trying to shed now.
Valid objections:
- But isn't this naïve? See Not Naïve Trust.
- What about when you hit real bad actors? Won't you get hurt? See Be Undefended, Not Defenseless.