Mind: A Brief Introduction (John R. Searle) / quote 15 of 138
Descartes divides the territory between science and religion
Cartesian dualism was important in the seventeenth century for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that it seemed to divide up the territory between science and religion. In the seventeenth century the new scientific discoveries seemed to pose a threat to traditional religion and there were terrific disputes about the apparent conflict between faith and reason. Descartes partly, although not entirely, defused this conflict by, in effect, giving the material world to the scientists and the mental world to the theologians. Minds were considered to be immortal souls and not a proper topic of scientific investigations, whereas bodies could be investigated by such sciences as biology, physics, and astronomy. Philosophy, by the way, he thought could study both mind and body.