"05. Lisa (novel)" by Matthew Lipman
 

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ISBN

0-916834-21-2

Target Grades

Middle School

Publication Date

1983

Publisher

Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children

Number of Pages

137

Summary

LISA is the story of a school year in the life of an adolescent girl and her classmates, a year studded with physical, aesthetic and ethical awakenings. Various events in these young people's lives prompt them to puzzle over such issues as animal rights, sexism, racism, justice, divorce and death. All of them struggle with issues of identity and thinking for oneself - philosophical issues of perennial concern to adolescents. As they begin to recognize the ethical dimensions of their experience, Lisa and her friends puzzle over such philosophical concepts as the right, the fair, the good, perfection, and naturalism. In so doing, they become aware of their interdependence with one another and with nature, and begin to appreciate the complexity of ethical concerns and the multiple capacities involved in making sound ethical judgments.

Excerpt

Randy Garlock said, "Boy, did I have a great time this weekend! My father took me duck hunting."

"Takes lotsa guts to hunt ducks," said Mark sarcastically. "They're always so heavily armed."

"Very funny," Randy replied.

"You don't even eat those birds, so why do you kill them?" Mark persisted.

"There's too many of them," Randy snapped. "Unless hunters kill off the oversupply, there'll be ducks all over the place."

"Sure, sure. I'll bet it's only the hunters who claim to have counted how many there are, and who've decided there are too will keep on killing animals until they're all wiped out."

"People got a right to hunt," Randy said to Mark. "It's in the Constitution."

"The Constitution doesn't say anything about hunting," Mark retorted. "It just says that men have a right to bear arms for purposes of defense. Next you'll be telling me that people have the right to hunt whatever they like, even other people. I once saw a movie like that, and I've never forgotten it."

"That's ridiculous!" Randy retorted. "Killing people is altogether different from killing animals."

"But if we can exterminate animals because we say there are too many of them, what's to keep us from exterminating people because we think there's too many of them?"

Editions

  • Lipman, Matthew (1983) Lisa. Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.
  • Lipman, Matthew (1976) Lisa. Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.

Translations

Keywords

education, ethics, ethical inquiry, middle school curriculum, moral education, philosophy, philosophy for children

Disciplines

Applied Ethics | Education | Philosophy

Published Reviews and Research

  • Hanna, Patricia (1982) Review of Lisa by Matthew Lipman and Ethical Inquiry: Instructional Manual to Accompany Lisa by Matthew Lipman, Ann Margaret Sharp, and Frederick S. Oscanyan. Teaching Philosophy 5(3): 234-236.
  • Reed, T.M. (1980) Review of Lisa by Matthew Lipman. Journal of Moral Education 10(1): 70-71.
  • Martin, Michael (1977) Review of Lisa by Matthew Lipman. Teaching Philosophy 2(2): 205-210.

05. Lisa (novel)

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