[unalone]

It's how philosophy began and it's how philosophy is in its purest state, which is much different from saying it's the only way for philosophy to be.

Generally, I think philosophy is like mathematics in that while its purest application is very obscure and very hard to understand without a whole lot of effort, that pure application results in practical breaththroughs on almost every level of "practical" research. I wish that pure philosophy was taught to more people, just as I wish that we taught kids more than the boring "practical" math that convinces them math sucks and patterns are boring. It's a pursuit that benefits nearly everybody who learns from it: reshapes our mind, teaches us new ways to observe the world. And if we had scientists, psychologists, programmers, and politicians learning philosophy, then there'd be less pressure on the actual philosophers to start studying something practical.

For me that's the change that should be made: not more practical philosophy, but more philosophical practice.

[lutusp]

> Generally, I think philosophy is like mathematics ...

There are no two subjects farther apart than philosophy and mathematics. They represent extrema on a spectrum that lies between absolute intellectual rigor and absolute intellectual onanism:

http://xkcd.com/435/

A mathematical idea is interesting to the degree that it addresses other mathematical ideas, perhaps proves a theorem of interest to other mathematicians.

A philosophical idea is interesting to the degree that it avoids addressing anything that might resolve an open question or (God forbid) cause the cessation of the endless chatter that identifies the true philosopher.

> ... that pure application results in practical breaththroughs on almost every level of "practical" research.

You're still describing philosophy, yes? There's no research in philosophy, practical or otherwise -- research is by definition an effort to correlate an idea with reality, and reality-testing is not philosophy's domain.

[edanm]

So this is a great place for me to be educated: what practical applications has philosophy yielded?

Btw, I've read your comments on this thread, and it seems like you're very knowledgeable about the field of philosophy, but not particularly knowledgeable about LessWrong. I'm only slightly knowledgeable about philosophy, but I highly recommend you read more of LessWrong - it's an amazing resource of knowledge and of philosophical discussions (albeit with a more practical-minded bent most of the time). Lukeprog, the author of the above post, is a very respected member of that community as far as I know, and I honestly think you are underestimating him.

[memla]

To take one example, philosophers have been more than instrumental in the development of logic, especially [informal logic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_logic#History). Don't want to get into a discussion on whether logic is itself a branch of philosophy.