| Birth Name: | Nelson Thomas Potter Jr. |
| Birth Date: | September 22, 1939 |
| Birth Place: | Mount Morris, Illinois, United States |
| Death Place: | Lincoln, Nebraska, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
| Field: | Philosophy |
| Work Institutions: | University of Nebraska-Lincoln |
| Alma Mater: | Johns Hopkins University |
| Known For: | Philosophy, Philosophy of Kant, Moral philosophy |
| Prizes: | Woodrow Wilson Fellow |
Nelson Thomas Potter Jr. (September 22, 1939 – May 12, 2013) was a professor of philosophy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States.[1]
In 1961, he graduated summa cum laude from Monmouth College and in 1969, he received as Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins University 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 and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. His philosophical research focused on ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophy of Kant. He retired and became professor emeritus in 2010.[1]
He was born and raised in Mount Morris, Illinois, the son of professional baseball player Nels Potter and Hazel (Park) Potter.[2] In 1978, he married Kathleen Johnson and had a daughter Sophia.[3] He was a member of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty and the ACLU.[1] [3]