Matter and Form

Physicists are attempting to find a theory of everything (TOE).

It is said that that will be successful when the ultimate particle is found and the four forces of nature are unified - and when one theory covers relativity and quantum mechanics.

However, material being is more than the particles that matter, energy, and the forces of nature are made of.

In addition to matter, there is *form.*

Form is the overall distribution, arrangement, and inter-connectivity of matter in three dimensional space. It is an objective constituent of being, so that a physical thing is more than the components it is made of.

For example, a car is not merely its parts. A heap of car parts with all of them present is not a car. They must be assembled in the right way - that is, form must be added - to constitute a car.

The principle of form is metaphysical. It does not come under the preview of physics, for physics only investigates matter, or what things are made of and the interaction of individual component parts.

The principle of form is *the* cornerstone metaphysical principle. For it is "one up" from physics, and is the gateway to understanding higher metaphysical principles such as essence, substance, being, and spirit.


Jim J. McCrea

Obesity

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