Existentialism fused German phenomenology with Kierkegaard and French literary sensibility.

Evidence

Sartre did not have eagle eyes and was never good at being silent, but he was certainly full of surmises. Aron, seeing his enthusiasm, suggested that he travel to Berlin in the coming autumn to study at the French Institute there, just as he had done. Sartre could study the German language, read the phenomenologists’ works in the original, and absorb their philosophical energy from near at hand. … He made the arrangements, the summer passed, and he went to Berlin to study. When he returned at the end of his year, he brought back a new blend: the methods of German phenomenology, mixed with ideas from the earlier Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and others, set off with the distinctively French seasoning of his own literary sensibility. He applied phenomenology to people’s lives in a more exciting, personal way than its inventors had ever thought to do, and thus made himself the founding father of a philosophy that became international in impact, but remained Parisian in flavour: modern existentialism. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 21

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains how modern existentialism emerged as a blend of specific antecedents — useful orientation for someone new to the movement.
• XREF: connects to: Modern existentialism fused German phenomenology with Danish philosophy and French literary sensibility — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 23; Hegel and Kierkegaard together form the twin sources of existentialism — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 460; Nietzsche and Kierkegaard defined existence as choice, action and self-assertion

Broader Connections

• Modern existentialism fused German phenomenology with Danish philosophy and French literary sensibility #corroborates (0.95) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 23
• Hegel and Kierkegaard together form the twin sources of existentialism #qualifies (0.75) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 460
• Nietzsche and Kierkegaard defined existence as choice, action and self-assertion #expands (0.72)