4. Mark (novel)

Authors

Matthew Lipman

Files

ISBN

0-916834-13-1

Target Grades

Secondary School (esp. ages 16-18)

Publication Date

1980

Publisher

Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children

Number of Pages

96

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Summary

The high school has been vandalized, and Mark is arrested at the scene of the crime. He claims he is a “victim of society.” But what is society? What forces hold it together or work to pull it apart? These are questions to which Mark and his classmates address themselves. What they seek are ways of evaluating social institutions, rules and values, so as to determine how well society is able to live up to the ideals which, at one time or another, have been set for it. They pay particular attention to the nature of law and crime, tradition, bureaucracy, and to the problems of authority, responsibility and force. But the most important considerations they take up have to do with democracy, freedom and justice.

Excerpt

Fran continued. “In a society, you can’t have freedom of thought without freedom of
expression. Because if people can’t express what they think, sooner or later they’ll
just stop thinking it.”
“If you can’t keep your thoughts in your head without bleating about them to
everyone,” Mr. O’Mara, “maybe they weren’t worth thinking about in the first
place.”
“Daddy,” said Laura, “let her finish!”
Mr. O’Mara waved in Fran’s direction. “Be my guest.”
Fran nodded. “Anyway. In the second place, you can’t have freedom of expression without having freedom of thought.”
“Aw,” Randy jeered, “that’s just plain ridiculous! Who ever heard of a society
where there was freedom of expression but no freedom of thought?”
“It could happen,” Fran replied. “It could very well happen. Like, you could be
brought up not to think for yourself. And even when you were grown up, you’d only
think what you were told to think. So, in that kind of society, it would be perfectly
safe to let you have freedom of expression, because you’d never have anything
contrary to say.”
“There have been societies like that,” said Ms. Williams.
“There still are,” Lisa responded, looking at Fran with admiration.
“Bart,” said Bill, “aren’t freedom of thought and expression covered under the
Constitution?”
“In general, yes. However, there are some sticky areas. Lots of times, people will do all sorts of odd things – you know, like burning their draft cards or advocating strikes – and then there’s a big controversy over whether that sort of thing is protected by the First Amendment.”

Translations

• Lipman, Matthew (1980) Mark. Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.
• Chinese translation (PRC): Lipman, Matthew (1997) 马克. Translated by 陈本益(Chen Benyi). 太原: 山西教育出版社 [Tai yuan: Shan xi jiao yu chu ban she].
• French translation (Belgium): Lipman, Matthew and Ann Margaret Sharp (2009) Mark: Recherche sociale. Translated by Nicole Decostre. Brussels, Belgium: Peter Lang. ISBN:9789052015446. Available for purchase here.
• German translation by John Alexander. [Need title & publication information.]
• Italian translation (Italy): Lipman, Matthew (2004) Mark. Translated by Laura Masini; adapted by Sergio Bellagamba. Naples, Italy: Liguori Editore. ISBN 9788820736583. Available for purchase here.
• Lithuanian translation (Lithuania): Lipman, Matthew (1999) Markas. Translated by Liutauras Degėsys. Vilnius, Lithuania: Kronta.
• Persian translation (Iran): Lipman, Matthew (2016/1395) Mark. Translated by یحیی قائدی (Yahya Ghaedi) and معصومه رمضانی (Masoumeh Ramazani). Tehran, Iran: انتشارات دانشگاه خوارزمی (Kharazmi University Press).
• Polish: Lipman, Matthew (1999) Marek. Trans. Robert Piłat. Warsaw, Poland: Fundacja Edukacja dla Demokracji [Education for Democracy Foundation].
• Slovenian translation (Slovenia): Lipman, Matthew (2005) Marko in raziskovanje družbe [Mark and the exploration of society]. Translated by Bojan Vučko and Domen Kern. Ljubljana, Slovenia: Založba Krtina. ISBN: 9789616174763.
• Spanish translation (Colombia): Lipman, Matthew (1986) Marcos: novela de filosofía social y política [Mark: a novel of social and political philosophy]. Translated and adapted by Diego Antonio Pineda R. Bogotá, D.C.: Editora Beta.
• Spanish translation (Spain): Lipman, Matthew (1989) Mark. [Need translator] Madrid, Spain: Ediciones de la Torre. ISBN 9788479602314. Available for purchase here.

Keywords

anarchy, constitutions, democracy, freedom, human nature, justice, law, propaganda, rights, sex discrimination, social change, social policy, social studies, society, socioeconomic class, victims, voting

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Constitutional Law | Courts | Criminal Law | Education | Ethics and Political Philosophy | Law | Philosophy | Secondary Education | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Published Reviews and Research

• Coppens, Sven (1998) Some Ideological Biases of the Philosophy for Children Curriculum: an Analysis of Mark and Social Inquiry. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 14(3): 25-32.
• Lee, Karen J. (1986) Doing "Mark" in a Juvenile Correctional Facility. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 6(3): 9-16.
• Reed, T.M. (1982) Review of Suki, Mark, Writing: How and Why, and Social Inquiry by Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp. Teaching Philosophy 5(3): 237-238.

Recommended Citation

Lipman, Matthew (1980). Mark. Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.