Samuel Beckett has often been considered a philosophical author for two main reasons. First, his work often treats philosophical questions and refers to specific philosophers, and second, his texts have attracted commentaries from contemporary philosophers, such as Maurice Blanchot, Gilles Deleuze and Alain Badieu.
We will look at several encounters of literature and philosophy in Beckett's writing, in works including Murphy, the Trilogy, and the late work, alongside philosophical sources in pre-Socratic philosophy, early modern philosophy and the 20th century.