Nelson Thomas Potter Jr. (September 22, 1939 – May 12, 2013) was a professor of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Intellectual biography

In 1961, he graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Monmouth College Monmouth College is a Private college, private Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Monmouth, Illinois. It enrolls 727 students in Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science de ...

and in 1969, he received as Ph. D. from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in philosophy. In 1965, he became a faculty member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and was chair of the department from 1980 to 1985. He was a

Woodrow Wilson Fellow The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit institution based in Princeton, New Jersey that says it aims to strengthen American democracy by "cultivating ...

and a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

. His philosophical research focused on

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

, and the philosophy of

Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...

. He retired and became professor emeritus in 2010.

Personal biography

He was born and raised in Mount Morris, Illinois, the son of professional baseball player

Nels Potter Nelson Thomas Potter (August 23, 1911 – September 30, 1990) was an American professional baseball player and right-handed pitcher who appeared in 349 games in Major League Baseball over a dozen seasons between 1936 and 1949, most notably as a ...

and Hazel (Park) Potter. In 1978, he married Kathleen Johnson and had a daughter Sophia. He was a member of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty and the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

Representative publications

* Kant and the Moral Worth of Actions. ''Southern Journal of Philosophy'' 34 (1996): 225–241. * Kant on Obligation and Motivation in Law and Ethics. ''Jahrbuch fuer Recht und Ethik, Band'' 2 (1994), pp. 95–111. * What is Wrong with Kant's Four Examples. ''Journal of Philosophical Research'' 43 (1993): 213–229.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Nelson Thomas Jr. 2013 deaths 1939 births 20th-century American philosophers University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty Kantian philosophers Johns Hopkins University alumni American philosophers of art People from Mount Morris, Illinois