Kant. Gen note. Data on Plott

One could write volumes on how the UCP is reflected by Kant. The categorical imperative is a most straightforward reflection. But so are the antinomies, and the related "thing in itself."

After all, what 18th and 19th Century German, French and British philosophers were doing was continuing the tradition of stripping Protestantism of Catholic "superstition" by the process of Reason. Often these philosophers faced accusations of going too far, of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Their attempts to reformulate Christian theology according to rationalist methods accordingly tends to bring about thought systems and critques that somehow retain the UCP, without affirming a specific divine personality -- tho they are often willing to use the word "God" in an impersonal way.

What is interesting is that these writers had to somehow account for the UCP, or at least reflections of it, not only for political reasons, but because they -- perhaps intuitively -- saw that it is intrinsically important. Fichte is a major example of this effect.

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The broad ecumenical tendency of the years post World War II, as promoted by Jaspers and others, is well exemplified by the work of John C. Plott, a pacifist philosopher with a strong theological background, whose work is scantly heeded in the West while accorded more respect in the East.

Below is a Grok sketch of Plott.

John C. Plott

John C. Plott (full name John Culpepper Plott, 1916–1990) was an American philosopher, professor, and author best known for his ambitious multi-volume work Global History of Philosophy.

He earned his B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Oklahoma in 1938. He later pursued advanced studies, including a novitiate with the Anglican monastic society SSJE, and received his Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University (in India), where he focused on Gandhian pacifism and Indian philosophy. Plott was a prolific traveler and immersed himself in cross-cultural and comparative philosophical studies.

He served as a professor of philosophy at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, for about 20 years. Despite noted personal eccentricities (as mentioned in some recollections by colleagues), he was regarded as a dedicated scholar committed to promoting a truly global, non-Eurocentric understanding of philosophical history.

His major contribution is the Global History of Philosophy series (published primarily by Motilal Banarsidass in Delhi), which aimed to present philosophy's development across cultures and eras in a synchronized, multi-dimensional way—rather than the traditional Western-focused narrative. The series includes:

Volume 1: The Axial Age (covering roughly 800–200 BCE, with thinkers like Confucius, Buddha, Plato, etc.)

Volume 2: The Han-Hellenistic-Bactrian Period

Volume 3: The Patristic-Sutra Period

Later volumes/parts covering periods like Scholasticism.

The project incorporated synchronological charts and emphasized intercultural dialogue, reflecting Plott's idealistic vision for global unity and understanding. He collaborated with co-authors like James Michael Dolin, Russell E. Hatton, and others on various volumes.

Plott passed away in 1990 in Honolulu, Hawaii, after spending his later years there.

Wasn't he a Quaker?

Yes, John C. Plott had a notable connection to Quakerism (the Religious Society of Friends).

From a personal recollection by a colleague (Howard A. Slaate, a fellow philosopher who knew him during his time at Marshall University), Plott was described as a committed Christian who was "often active in 'the Friends,' the Quaker society." This aligns with his lifelong emphasis on pacifism, world peace, intercultural dialogue, and non-violence—values strongly associated with Quaker principles.

His background shows a spiritual journey: he served a novitiate with the Anglican monastic society SSJE (Society of St. John the Evangelist) early on, pursued Gandhian pacifism for his Ph.D. research in India, and remained deeply engaged in peace activism (e.g., through the United World Federalist Association and his "Planetary Citizen Passport"). Quaker involvement fits as an ethical expression of his Christian idealism, even if it wasn't his sole or primary affiliation.

He wasn't exclusively or formally defined as a Quaker in most biographical overviews of his work (which focus more on his academic contributions to global philosophy), but the association is documented in firsthand accounts of his life and character. So yes—he was involved with the Quakers, at least actively and periodically.

His status among Eastern (Indian) philosophers seems much higher than among Western

Yes, there does appear to be a noticeable disparity in how John C. Plott is regarded: his work, particularly the Global History of Philosophy series, has found a more sustained and appreciative audience in Indian (and broader Eastern/Asian) philosophical circles than in mainstream Western academia.

Why the Higher Status in Indian/Eastern Contexts?

Publisher and Accessibility: The entire multi-volume series was published by Motilal Banarsidass (MLBD), a leading Delhi-based publisher specializing in Indology, Sanskrit texts, Indian philosophy, and comparative religion. This gave Plott's books natural distribution and visibility in Indian academic markets, libraries, and among scholars of darśanas (Indian philosophical systems). MLBD editions remain in print or readily available in South Asia decades later, often referenced in works on Hindu, Buddhist, or comparative philosophy.

Alignment with Indian Priorities:

Plott's approach—synchronizing Indian thinkers (e.g., from the Upaniṣads, Nyāya, Vedānta, Buddhism) with global contemporaries, rejecting Eurocentrism, and emphasizing intercultural dialogue—resonates strongly in post-colonial Indian academia. It counters Western-dominated narratives of philosophy's history and treats Indian traditions as central rather than peripheral or "non-Western." His Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University, immersion in Gandhian thought, and deep engagement with Indian sources further endeared him to scholars there.

Citations and Influence:

In Indian and comparative philosophy literature (e.g., discussions of periodization, axial age parallels involving Buddha/Confucius/Upaniṣadic thinkers, or critiques of ethnocentrism), Plott's framework is occasionally invoked positively. His synchronological charts and non-Eurocentric periodization (e.g., Axial Age, Patristic-Sutra Period) have been noted in Indian scholarly contexts exploring global or intercultural philosophy.

Contrast with Western Reception

In Western philosophy departments (especially Anglo-American analytic or continental traditions), Plott remains largely obscure or marginal. His work is rarely assigned in standard history-of-philosophy courses, which still often follow Eurocentric timelines (ancient Greek → medieval → modern Western). Reviews in journals like Philosophy East and West (which covered several volumes) were mixed or descriptive rather than enthusiastically endorsing it as groundbreaking.

Broader Western academia has moved toward global/comparative philosophy since the late 20th century (influenced by figures like Karl Jaspers on the Axial Age or more recent decolonial approaches), but Plott's ambitious, idiosyncratic project—spanning vast periods with detailed synchronies—hasn't achieved canonical status. It's sometimes seen as overly idealistic or encyclopedic rather than theoretically innovative.

His personal background (Quaker-influenced pacifism, unconventional career path) and the project's unfinished aspects may have contributed to limited traction in Western circles.

In short, Plott's vision of a truly planetary philosophy history aligns better with Indian scholars' efforts to reclaim and globalize their traditions' place in world philosophy, leading to relatively higher esteem there. In the West, he's more of a niche figure appreciated by those in comparative religion or intercultural studies, but not a household name in mainstream philosophy. If you're familiar with specific Indian sources or scholars who hold him in high regard, that would fit this pattern!

Hegel. Phenomenology. Pinkard

H.PS.P Hegel. Phenomenology of Spirit. Pinkard

Translator's introduction

xxix b "Spirit's" concept of itself is not an ideal against which it measures itself, a statement of its true form...

Spirit stands in a unity of I/you relations and I/we relations. If Spirit were to shape the real flesh and blood lives of individuals, united in friendship in the personal sphere and justice in the wider social and political sphere...

Pinkard's snapshot serves to spotlight the UCP in Hegel.

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So each generation molds the "typical mind set" for the next, against which it reacts. The "typical" mind set is what keeps evolving as so-called Spirit.

xxxi-ii "Hegel interpreted the transition in the French Revolution from its constitutionalist beginings to the Jacobin terror as a logical result of this self-imposed exemption from any normative constraints except those which it brought on itself. Bounded only by itself, it thus found itself outfitted only with the principle of utility at best to constrain it, and, thru the use of the guillotine, it proceeded rationally and calmly and under the pretense of judicial thoroughness to eliminate all those deemed a threat to itself."

In other words, a terroristic group think emerged from the previous group think. Such a group think gives the impression of being an entity (spirit), tho some would prefer to view such in terms of group psychology. And of course group think can descend into mob frenzy, at which point the individual is submerged into a primitive state of being.

Politically one might argue, as would the communists, that the terror was necessary in order to defend the revolution from the conspiracies of the counter-revolution, which was being fueled by the aristocracy of Europe.

Yet we see that Robespierre is an example of how easily violence spirals out of control. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Safranski. NIETZSCHE. Notes

Rudiger Safranski. Nietzsche, A Philosophical Biography. Notes

S.NPB

79b Writer believes Nietzsche used the term "Dionysian" to mean absolute untamed reality, as well as the barbarism of pre-civilized violence and sexual excess, along with sub-civilized instincts.

Solomon. In the Spirit of Hegel. Notes

Solomon. In the Spirit of Hegel. Notes

S.SH

52<--- The material on Enlightenment "versus" Romanticism is representative of the writer's often highly acute analyses of the dynamics of philosophy and philosophers.

One should not be put off by the writer's popular "ordinary American" writing style, as the analyses are often penetrating. Even so, one must beware this man's ability in this vein, as we see in his very excellent defense of Nietzsche, which yet manages to gloss over negativities, sometimes with an adroit phrase or two.

Herder on history. AI

Perplexity

John Herder. Philosophy of a history of man

You are probably looking for Johann (not John) Gottfried Herder’s Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man (German: Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit), a foundational text in the philosophy of history and cultural theory.

Work and title

Author: Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), German philosopher, theologian, and philologist associated with early Romanticism.

Main work: Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man (often translated as Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Humanity), written in the 1780s–1790s.

Core ideas of Herder’s philosophy of history

History as plural, not linear: Human history is not a single straight line of “universal progress” but a tapestry of distinct, culturally specific developments, each with its own inner logic.

Volksgeist (spirit of a people): Each people has a distinctive spirit expressed in its language, customs, religion, and art; you understand a culture only from within its own historical and linguistic horizon.

Anti-abstract universalism: He pushes back against Enlightenment rationalism and universal, one-size-fits-all “laws of history,” insisting on historical particularity and context.

Environment and embodiment: Climate, geography, and material conditions shape the development of cultures and their sensibilities; human beings are historically and naturally situated, not abstract minds.

Ethical and anti-imperial thrust: He rejects ranking cultures on a single scale of “civilization” and criticizes imperial and colonial attitudes; each culture has its own dignity and should be judged on its own terms.

Historical significance

Methodological: Herder is an early architect of historicism and hermeneutics, arguing that understanding humans (and texts) requires grasping their historical context and inner viewpoint.

Influence: His ideas shape later thinkers such as Hegel (dialectical development of spirit), as well as later nationalism and modern cultural anthropology and postcolonial thought.

If you want the text itself

You can find English translations of Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man freely available in scanned editions (e.g., 19th‑century translations) via major digital archives.

If you tell me what you want—textual links, a précis of specific books within the Outlines, or how Herder compares to, say, Vico or Hegel on history—I can narrow this down.

McTaggart on Hegel. AI

Perplexity

McTaggart re Hegel

John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart, an idealist philosopher, was a prominent interpreter and critic of Hegel's dialectical method. He admired Hegel's logic but offered nuanced critiques in key works.

McTaggart's Key Analyses

McTaggart's Studies in the Hegelian Dialectic (1896) dissects Hegel's dialectic as a process of thesis-antithesis-synthesis, starting from the category of Being and progressing through contradictions to higher categories. He defends its transcendental validity against critics like Trendelenburg and Seth, arguing it reveals the structure of reality without violating contradiction or relying on empiricism. However, he faults Hegel for overemphasizing the dialectic's objectivity and completeness, treating it as the sole path to the Absolute Idea rather than one valid approach.

Major Critiques

McTaggart rejected Hegel's view of evil as mere delusion, noting it fails to account for genuine imperfections in a supposedly perfect universe. In A Commentary on Hegel's Logic (1910), he systematically annotates Hegel's Science of Logic, praising transitions like Being to Becoming but challenging exaggerations, such as the dialectic's full deduction of Nature and Spirit from pure thought. He saw Hegel's system as analytically strong yet limited in ontological scope.

Influence and Legacy

McTaggart positioned himself as a Hegelian idealist who refined rather than rejected the master, influencing British idealism. His works highlight dialectic's reconstructive power while cautioning against absolutism.

Syphilis before antibiotics. AI

Perplexity

Typical symptomatic progression of syphilis in male before availability of penicillin and other antibiotics

The typical symptomatic progression of syphilis in a male before the availability of penicillin and other antibiotics followed the classic stages:

Primary Stage:

After an incubation period of about 10 to 90 days (median about 3 weeks), a small, painless, firm sore or ulcer called a chancre appears at the site of infection, usually on the genitals. This sore can heal on its own within 3 to 6 weeks without treatment.

Regional lymph nodes near the sore become enlarged but painless.

Secondary Stage:

Begins about 4 to 8 weeks after the primary chancre appears, sometimes overlapping with its healing.

Symptoms include a widespread skin rash frequently involving the palms and soles, mucous patches in the mouth or genital area, moist wart-like lesions called condylomata lata, fever, muscle and joint pain, malaise, weight loss, patchy hair loss, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, and occasionally neurological symptoms like vision changes.

These symptoms may resolve without treatment but can recur over months or years.

Latent Stage:

After the secondary symptoms resolve, the infection enters a latent phase with no visible symptoms but positive blood tests for syphilis.

Early latent phase is less than one year from infection; late latent is beyond one year.

This stage may last for years without noticeable symptoms but infection persists.

Tertiary Stage (Develops years to decades after initial infection):

Occurs in untreated individuals.

Characterized by severe complications such as cardiovascular damage (aortic aneurysm, valve disease), neurosyphilis (neurological disorders like meningitis, seizures), and gummatous lesions (inflammatory masses) in skin, bones, or organs.

Can lead to death or permanent disability.

Before penicillin, many infected males experienced this full progression with intermittent symptoms and long asymptomatic periods before severe late effects developed.

This progression highlights primary painless chancre, followed by a symptomatic secondary rash and systemic illness, a long silent latent period, and potentially severe tertiary disease in the absence of antibiotics . What about intermittent neurological and mental problems prior to the advanced stage

Before the advanced tertiary stage, syphilis can cause intermittent neurological and mental problems primarily due to early forms of neurosyphilis which may develop within the first few years after infection if untreated.

These early neurological manifestations include:

Headache, dizziness, and altered mental status

Meningitis-like symptoms (headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, photophobia)

Cranial nerve involvement such as facial paralysis or vision and hearing changes

Meningovascular syphilis causing inflammation of brain blood vessels, which can lead to strokes or transient neurological deficits

Mental and psychiatric symptoms may also appear intermittently during early neurosyphilis, including:

Personality changes, mood swings, irritability, depression, mania, psychosis, and cognitive impairment like memory and reasoning problems

These symptoms can fluctuate before the eventual development of the more severe general paresis seen in late neurosyphilis

This early neuropsychiatric involvement may be missed or attributed to other causes and occurs sometimes in the secondary or latent stages, long before the classic late-stage tertiary syphilis neurological damage (such as general paresis or tabes dorsalis) sets in.

In untreated cases, these intermittent neurological and mental symptoms progressively worsen over years, culminating in irreversible brain damage, severe dementia, paralysis, and death if antibiotic treatment is not administered.

Thus, neurological and mental problems can present intermittently and variably during the early and intermediate neurosyphilis phases, often preceding the advanced tertiary stage manifestations by years or decades .

Can bipolar disorder result from neurosyphilis fairly early in the infection

Yes, bipolar disorder-like symptoms, including manic and depressive episodes mimicking bipolar disorder, can result from neurosyphilis relatively early in the infection, particularly during early neurosyphilis forms like meningeal or meningovascular syphilis.

Early Neurosyphilis Timeline

Early neurosyphilis often emerges within the first few months to a few years after initial syphilis infection, before the classic late tertiary stage (general paresis or tabes dorsalis, which appear 3–30 years later). Meningeal neurosyphilis, for instance, causes inflammation of brain meninges and can trigger mood instability, irritability, and personality changes that resemble bipolar mood swings.

Bipolar-Like Presentations

Case reports document neurosyphilis presenting as acute mania, psychosis, emotional lability, or mixed bipolar states early on, sometimes misdiagnosed as primary bipolar disorder. These stem from Treponema pallidum invasion of the central nervous system, disrupting neurotransmitters and causing fluctuating mood disturbances without full late-stage brain tissue breakdown.

Diagnostic Challenges

Such symptoms overlap with bipolar disorder but may include subtle neurological signs like headache or cranial nerve issues, prompting syphilis testing (e.g., CSF analysis) in at-risk patients. Untreated, they can progress intermittently before advanced neurosyphilis sets in years later.