Obesity is a physical evil, for the body of an obese person is not what it should be.
Now, classical metaphysics has defined evil as the absence of what is due. Evil is not a positive reality or being, but is simply an absence of being.
Now an objection may be raised to this, in reference to the example of obesity. With obesity there is an excess of body mass which is the essence of obesity. It would seem then, that the evil of obesity is defined by not a lack of being but by having more being.
We can answer this objection by pointing out that being is not simply raw matter. A material being is constituted of *form* as well as matter - and form is the more significant part. Although with the obese person, there is an excess of matter, there is a *lack* of proper form in the body due to this excess. And it is precisely this lack that defines obesity as a physical evil.
Jim J. McCrea
