Every year on Thanksgiving Day, it my custom to give thanks. This year, I want to thank the wonderful philosopher and teacher, Jean Hampton, who tragically died at 41 years of age in 1996. When I was an undergraduate at UCLA, Hampton was my professor in courses on the philosophy of law, Kant's moral philosophy, and a graduate seminar on Rawls and Nozick. Hampton was a fabulous classroom teacher, who expected much of her students and displayed her displeasure when they fell short of her expectations. I recall her berating the UCLA undergraduates in her philosophy of law class for failing to read H.L.A. Hart with sufficient care! But what I remember most about Jean Hampton was her generosity. I spent many many hours in her office, talking philosophy and trying her patience with elaborate reconstructions of Kant's philosophy of law. I will be forever grateful for her willingness to listen, to respond critically but sympathetically, and…
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