The ruination of sex, thanks to Descartes

Marc, the Bad Catholic, has a thoughtful and entertaining post explaining how the philosphy of Descrates ruined sex and led to many of the difficulities with sexuality facing society today.

He writes:

For Descartes there was little distinction between a mind and a soul. So, according to him, a body can exist without the soul and the soul without the body.

....

In common terms, what is a body without a soul? A corpse. What is a soul without a body? A ghost. Interestingly enough, we view both of these things with fear. Our natural reaction to body-soul dualism is not approval, but fearful rejection. Whatever else may be true, our actual human experience of the separation of body and soul is that Something Is Wrong!

Be sure to read the entire post.