Despite his great age, Plato remains an invaluable resource for understanding the world we live in. Much can still be drawn from his philosophy today, from questions of democracy, autocracy, and fake news to celebrity culture, cancel culture, and the limits of money. By positioning ourselves at the intersection of the ancient and the modern, we can draw on Plato to address key questions concerning the nature of a flourishing life and community, healthcare, love and friendship, heroism, reality, art, and myth-making. Equally important is how Plato invites us to think: his adaptation of the Socratic method and dialogue form can help us engage with contested issues in a more constructive way.

Angie Hobbs is Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. Her interests are in ancient philosophy and literature, and in ethics and political theory from classical thought to the present. Her last publication for a general audience, Why Plato Matters Now, was published in 2025 by Bloomsbury.

Jon Hawkins is a PhD researcher in philosophy at the University of Leeds. His work sits at the intersection between free will debates and artificial intelligence.

Peter Westis Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University London working in Early Modern Philosophy and Early Analytic Philosophy.