05. Lisa (novel)

Authors

Matthew Lipman, Montclair State University

Files

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

Copyright Agreement

By downloading this work, you agree to the following:

-- To only use the materials for educational and/or research purposes and not to use, share, or reproduce them for any commercial use (other than to be paid for teaching);

--Not to translate, sell, or adapt the material in print or other media without permission (to request such permission, contact iapc@montclair.edu);

--To indemnify and hold harmless the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) and Montclair State University from any legal liability caused by your use of these materials, and to compensate the IAPC and/or the University from any harm or loss resulting from your use of these materials.

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

• Catalan translation (Spain) Lipman, Matthew (2017) Elisa. Translated by Josep-Maria Terricabras and revised, updated and abbreviated by Manuela Gómez and Irene de Puig, with literary adaptation by Rodolfo del Hoyo. Girona, Spain: Eumo Editorial, Universitat de Girona. [Donated to Sprague]
• Catalan translation (Spain) Lipman, Matthew (2004) Elisa. Translated by Josep-Maria Terricabras and revised, updated and abbreviated by Manuela Gómez and Irene de Puig, with literary adaptation by Rodolfo del Hoyo. Girona, Spain: Eumo Editorial, Universitat de Girona. [Donated to Sprague]
• Catalan translation (Spain) Lipman, Matthew (1991) Lisa. Translated by Josep-Maria Terricabras Girona, Spain: Eumo Editorial, Universitat de Girona. [Donated to Sprague]
• Catalan translation (Spain): Lipman, Matthew (2015) Elisa. [Need translator.] Granada, Spain: Librería Coral. ISBN 9788497665445. Available for purchase here.
• English revised edition (USA): Lipman, Matthew (1998) Lisa. Revised by students and teachers of Nitschmann Middle School, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Area School. (Publisher not indicated).
• Finnish translation (Finland): Lipman, Matthew (1994) Liisa: eettisiä kysymyksiä [Lisa: ethical issues]. Translated and edited by Pekka Elo and Rainer Korhonen. Helsinki, Finland: Painatuskeskus. ISBN 9789513712983.
• French translation (Quebec, Canada): Lipman, Matthew (1993) Lisa. Translated by Marcel Savard. Québec City, Québec, Canada: Faculté de philosophie, Université Laval. ISBN 978344410. Available for purchase here.
• French translation (Belgium): Lipman, Matthew and Ann Margaret Sharp (2011) Lisa: Recherche éthique. Translated by Nicole Decostre, preface by Marcel Voisin. Brussels, Belgium: Peter Lang. ISBN: 9789052017587. Available for purchase here.
• German translation (Austria): Lipman, Matthew (2022) Lisa: Eine philosophische Geschichte [Lisa: A Philosophical Story]. Translated by Daniela G. Camhy. [Place of publication unknown]: Academia. doi.org/10.5771/9783896659873
• German translation (country?) by John Alexander [Need title & publication information.]
• Icelandic translation (Iceland): Lipman, Matthew (1993) Lísa. Translated by Hreinn Pálsson and Arna A Antonsdóttir. Reykjavík: Heimspekiskólinn.
• Italian translation (Italy): Lipman, Matthew (2015) Lisa. Translated and adapted by Alessandro Volpone. Naples, Italy: Liguori Editore. ISBN 9788820766092. Available for purchase here.
• Korean translation (ROK) by Chosik Lee and Jinwhan Park. [Unpublished.]
• Lithuanian translation (Lithuania): Lipman, Matthew (1999) Liza. Pilietinės visuomenės pagrindai. Vadovėlis-romanas. [Lisa. Basics of civil society. Textbook-novel.] Translated by Leonarda Jekentaitė. Vilnius: Kronta, 96 pp.
• Persian translation (Iran): Lipman, Matthew (2010/1389) Lisa. Translated by بحرینی حمیده(Hamideh Bahraini). Tehran, Iran: The Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies. (پژوهشگاه علوم انسانی و مطالعات فرهنگی).
• Persian adaptation (Iran): سعید ناجی (Naji, Saeed) (2010/1389) Leila, the philosopher child (an adaptation of Matthew Lipman's Lisa). Tehran, Iran: The Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (پژوهشگاه علوم انسانی و مطالعات فرهنگی).
• Polish translation (Poland): Lipman, Matthew (1999) Iza. Translated by Dorota Szmajda. Warsaw, Poland: Fundacja Edukacja dla Demokracji [Education for Democracy Foundation]. ISBN 8386304812.
• Portuguese translation (Brazil): Lipman, Matthew (1995) Luísa. Translated by Ana Luiza Falcone. São Paulo, Brasil : Centro Brasileiro de Filosofia para Crianças.
• Spanish translation (Argentina): Lipman, Matthew (1999) Lisa. Translated by Horacio Pons; revised by Gloria Arbonés and Stella Accorinti. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Manantial. ISBN 9789875000261. Available for purchase here
• Spanish translation (Colombia): Lipman, Matthew (2003) Elisa: novela de ética [Lisa: a novel of ethics]. Translated by Diego Antonio Pineda R. Bogotá, D.C., Colombia : Editora Beta.
• Spanish translation (Mexico): Lipman, Matthew (2009; 2012) Lisa. Translated and adapted by Claudia Hernández de Ponce de León and Eugenio Echeverría. San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico: Centro Latinoamericano de Filosofía para Niños. Available for purchase here.
• Spanish translation (Mexico) by Midwest Publications, 1977 (1st ed.) [Need title & publication information.]
• Spanish translation (Peru) Francisco Rubinos. 1st ed. [Need title & publication information.]
• Spanish translation (Spain): Lipman, Matthew (1988) Lisa. Translated by María Eugenia Láynez Cerdeña. Madrid: Ediciones de la Torre. Available for purchase here.

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.
• Berman, Matt (1987) Beauty. Analytic Teaching 7(2): 29.
• Lardner, A. T. (1988) Pennypacker Produces a Problem or the Usefulness of Criticism. Analytic Teaching 8(2): 89-90.
• Mandel, Sylvia (1986) About True Sentences and Decisions. Analytic Teaching 6(2): 39-40.
• Martin, Michael (1977) Review of Lisa by Matthew Lipman. Teaching Philosophy 2(2): 205-210.
• Pritchard, Michael S. (1984) Reciprocity. Analytic Teaching 4(2): 1-4.
• Talbot, Gilbert (1987) Do We Have a Problem or Does the Problem Have Us: Comments on Lisa’s Chapter One. Analytic Teaching 7(2): 33.
• Talbot, Gilbert (1987) Goodness: Comments of Chapter Three of Lisa. Analytic Teaching 7(2): 34.
• Reed, T.M. (1980) Review of Lisa by Matthew Lipman. Journal of Moral Education 10(1): 70-71.
• Ryan, Mary Melville (1988) Lessons from a Rose and Fox. Analytic Teaching 8(2): 91-92.
• Smith, Greg (1994) An experience of introducing Lisa to secondary schoolteachers. Critical and Creative Thinking 2(2).
• Smith, Greg (2005) Practical Thinking on Bigger Ideas. Critical and Creative Thinking 13(1-2): 138-42.
• Urner, Julie E. (1988) Taming Suki: Lisa, Chapter Three. Analytic Teaching 8(2): 95-96.

Recommended Citation

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