Book excerpt: Though known primarily as a herald of philosophical pessimism, the full range of Schopenhauer's contributions is displayed here in a collection of thirty-one essays on the forefront of Schopenhauer scholarship. The essays explore his central notions, including the will, empirical knowledge, and the sublime, and widens to the interplay of ethics and religion with Schopenhauer's philosophy. Authors confront difficult aspects of Schopenhauer's work and legacy - for example, the extent to which Schopenhauer adopted ideas from his predecessors compared to how much was original and visionary in his central claim that reality is a blind, senseless 'will,' the effectiveness of his philosophy in the field of scientific explanation and extrasensory phenomena, and the role of beauty and sublimity in his outlook.--