Electricity’s invisibility fueled idealist religious and philosophical thought

Evidence

The key to the mystery was, of course, electricity—a force of great potency and yet invisible. It was this invisibility that made electricity and the telegraph powerful impetuses to idealist thought both in religious and philosophical terms. It presented the mystery of the mind–body dualism and located vital energy in the realm of the mind, in the nonmaterial world. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 784

Categorization

• QUESTION: Carey claims invisibility impelled idealism — worth probing whether this holds against competing accounts of Victorian electrical materialism.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 784
• XREF: connects to: Immediate unhappiness combined with reflection generates metaphysical optimism about super-sensible worlds — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1141; Stoicism functions philosophically as an insincere rationalization of unavoidable unhappiness — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1083; Mathematical certainty led philosophers to suppose thought is superior to sense — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 203 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Immediate unhappiness combined with reflection generates metaphysical optimism about super-sensible worlds #expands (0.55) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1141
• Stoicism functions philosophically as an insincere rationalization of unavoidable unhappiness #corroborates (0.50) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1083
• Mathematical certainty led philosophers to suppose thought is superior to sense #expands (0.45) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 203