Some, many non-philosophers as any of us in a academic environment probably know all to well think that philosophy is rather pointless. We are all just sitting on our arses thinking "what if".

I'm interested to hear your defenses (or attacks) of philosophy in this regard.

Discuss.

It matters if it matters to you. If you don't care, no need for you to think about it. If you do care, and if it interests you, then you should think about these things, and discuss them. Frankly, does it matter whether it matters or not?

The meta-matter of the meta-matter of mattering?

Anyways, philosophy by definition means 'love of study', so of course it matters! If there is no need for study, then there would be no love of it, and that is the day when philosophy will stop mattering. Until then we continue to think!

All subjects of study entail philosophy.
There is no science without the philosophy of science.

Sadly, science nowadays ignores the method derived from philosophy of science
and science has come to mean the dogmatic faith in scientism :

It behaves more like fundamentalist religion, with white elephant projects that
are essentially esoteric as they cannot be verified without spending billions,
and these projects have no practical application either.

Science has come to mean : baffle with bulldung,

so philosophy will become the 'new science' sooner or later.

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Can you cite an example of how in 2009 science requires the continued input of philosophy for its very existence?

Upon what, pray tell do you base this? How much work have you done in the science field? Or are you looking at it from outside as if that somehow reveals its inner workings?

EVERYTHING in science is like that? How about the computer you're typing on? How about the last medication you took? How about the car you drive? These are all applications of science.

And "fundamentalist religion"? That's a very ignorant statement. You should see the amount of debate that happens at scientific meetings and symposia, the amount of correspondance in journals, and the degree to which scientists are careful to explicitly describe the limitations of their research. Sounds like the opposite of fundamentalism to me.

It wouldn't seem like "bulldung" if you spent more time with it. Spend a few months reading Scientific American or the Tuesday science section in the NY Times -- or better yet go work as a lab tech at a university for a while. Immerse yourself in it before committing yourself to baseless cynicism.

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"How you get so big eating food of this kind?" -Yoda

Pulling this thread towards the completely personal. And yet...

I'm an amateur-chemist since many years now and that gave me immensely more than just some knowledge about ions or oxydation states. It is an intense mental exercise and it gives me a continuous feeling of awe towards the workings of reality. Science? Practice it first or you won't know what you're missing!

Question: any other amateur-scientist here? Could be a thread really..

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Philosophy does not teach you how to live you life nor does it explore the root of the universe or provide any sort of conclusive evidence towards anything. By these meassures, philosophy is useless.

But it DOES teach us new ways of thinking, opens possibilities, adds perspective to many subjects which are commonly just schools of information rather than schools of thought.

In this way, philosophy is one of the most important things in the world.

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I'm going to have to agree with this post. For me it doesn't matter whether philosophy actually has any objective importance as much as it does that it is important to me. I believe philosophy makes life far more interesting. What would life be if we couldn't think about who we really are, why we are here, and where we are going? I suppose for some (probably most, since most people I've encountered seem to have no interest in philosophy, at least knowingly) simply living life without thinking about the whys is all they need to be happy, but others do need to at least attempt to discover answers to those questions, and philosophy offers a method to do so.

Some scholastic savants alluded that philosophy is not verily vital in life,as it is a redundant subject.But I assent with the perspective of WithoutReason.

Everything is philosophy,everything should have the justifications logically,thereby making a philosophy.

Philosophy is everywhere and is a basic part of conscious life even if the human subject is not aware of it.

It is very true that without a philosophy, or interpretation, of something that is an extension of man it would not exist or would be simply uncomprehendable.

Philosophy in a very real sense is your attitude towards and extension of man based on your understanding of its relationship to observer. Without some type of interpretation between attitude and understanding we would not be the people we are today.

You question the merit of the what if statement and yet it is this empirical testing that has enabled man to survive and evolve in his surrounding to what we have become to this day.