Summary
Jean Hampton died on April 2, 1996, three days after going into a coma induced by a massive brain hemorrhage. The main intellectual project she was actively engaged on just before her death was the completion and revision of a draft of a book with the working title A Theory of Reasons. The draft she was working from contained nine chapters and a preface, introduction, and preliminary material. She had significantly revised the first three chapters in the weeks prior to her unexpected and premature death, which prevented her from completing her work on the rest of the manuscript.
Jean thought of this as her most important work, and had asked me to ensure its publication in the event she was unable to do so herself. With the encouragement of Terry Moore of Cambridge University Press, I have undertaken to honor her request. The book is closely based on computer files of the most recent versions of the preface, introduction, and preliminary material, and nine chapters of A Theory of Reasons as they were left at Jean's death.
The material has been lightly edited to remove obvious typographical and other minor errors. More substantial editorial interventions are noted explicitly, mainly in footnotes and appendices – the words of the editor in the text are enclosed in brackets.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Authority of Reason , pp. ix - xPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998