Resumen
El origen del pensamiento (1876) is a philosophical and critical essay written early in the career of Armando Palacio Valdés.
In this work, he reflects on the nature and development of human thought, exploring its sources in perception, memory, and imagination.
Influenced by positivism and the intellectual currents of the 19th century, Palacio Valdés examines how ideas are formed and how human reasoning evolves from sensory experience to abstract concepts.
While primarily theoretical, the essay also reveals his interest in the interplay between science, philosophy, and literature, a concern that would later shape the psychological depth of his novels.
This book is less narrative than his later fiction and instead showcases Palacio Valdés as a young thinker engaged with the philosophical debates of his time, before becoming renowned as a realist novelist.