Plato's legacy: alive and well.

The article focuses on a reinterpretation of Plato’s moral philosophy as presented in the book *A Platonic Theory of Moral Education: Cultivating Virtue in Contemporary Democratic Classrooms* by Mark E. Jonas and Yoshiaki Nakazawa. It challenges common views that Plato’s doctrines—such as the sufficiency of knowledge for virtue and the elitist notion that only philosophers can be virtuous—are implausible or undemocratic. Instead, the authors argue that Plato’s concept of knowledge includes cognitive, affective, and conative dimensions acquired through habituation, making virtue attainable for all individuals in democratic education. They also highlight Plato’s unique emphasis on the power of dialogue to induce moral epiphanies, offering hope for moral transformation even in those previously miseducated, thus providing valuable insights for contemporary moral educators.