From the jacket of Global History of Philosophy, Volume I, we read, "Contemplation, scholarship and adventure: a rare trinity of values in American life these days." Yet such has been the lifestyle of John C. Plott. Educated as a Phi Beta Kappa undergraduate at the University of Oklahoma (B.A. 1938), he served a novitiate with the SSJE, an Anglican Monastic society in Ontario. He received his Ph.D. from Banaras University where he went to learn more about Gandhian Pacifism and Indian Philosophy. He seems to have travelled endlessly and to have attended all possible East-West conferences. Whenever he was briefly stationary, he could be found teaching at Marshall University or doing research at the University of Hawaii or other universities. He prized his Planetary Citizen Passport and his membership in the United World Federalist Association, and engaged in lifelong activities on behalf of world peace through global understanding and social justice. He was a strong supporter of UNESCO, its programs and its publications. In a recent letter (Aug. 20, 1996) to Wallace Gray, Eiji Hattori, who is an Advisor to the Director General of UNESCO, wrote: "As you mention, I feel something in common with Dr. John Plott's thinking. His standpoint is excellent."

John Plott inspired many students, colleagues, and world-class scholars such as Nakamura to continue or to undertake more seriously and effectively the historical- comparative aspect of the Project. Many were also inspired to support the planetary peace objectives which Plott saw as intimately related to better mutual understanding across lines of ignorance and hostility.

In his preface to Volume I, Plott urges his readers to adopt a global perspective which can counteract a merely local or myopic perspective. He tells us that he has written for "students who are concerned with problems of peace and international, intercultural, and interfaith relations, and especially students who have begun to realize that there are no short-cut solutions for the planetary crises that have beset mankind in the twentieth century and are therefore willing to work more thoroughly towards the One World goal which [has] become not just an ideal but a necessity."

The series Global History of Philosophy stands on its academic merits even for readers who do not fully embrace John C. Plott's vision or his objectives for the project prior to his death in 1990.