[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.