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Yes, philosophy brings practical benefits to society. First of all, the benefits of studying philosophy are the development of critical and creative thinking skills, which are required both for the formation of civic competencies necessary for a person in a democratic society, and, for example, for a scientist, manager or businessman.
Since in the process of studying philosophy it is necessary to get acquainted with various philosophical concepts and arguments supporting them, a person studying the history of philosophy learns, first, to understand people with a worldview different from his own, secondly, to enter into a dialogue with carriers of such a worldview, thirdly, to analyze the arguments underlying various forms of worldview, and fourthly, to understand the limitations of All these skills are necessary for a person who communicates with people of other cultures and worldviews in the modern world.
Philosophy also teaches people to go beyond” evidence “and”common sense.” For example, it may seem obvious to someone that the universe exists, and then a philosopher comes and asks: “Why is there something and not nothing?” At first glance, this may seem like an idle pastime, but, in fact, it is a very important skill, especially for a scientist: after all, all breakthrough scientific concepts were created precisely by going beyond the obvious. For example, it is obvious from a common sense point of view that the Sun revolves around the Earth (because we see it that way) or that the Earth is flat (because otherwise people from the lower half would fall down). It took people to go beyond the “point-like” to move from these naive ideas to more complex and more advanced models of describing the world.
Answering the question of what is the place of a person in the world, philosophy serves as the ideological foundation for psychology, since how you will approach the solution of certain psychological problems is directly related to the solution of a purely philosophical question about what is, in essence, a person, what is his nature. Therefore, any major area of psychotherapy – existential psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis-can be traced to the influence of certain philosophical systems. For example, the concept of the “unconscious” developed in psychoanalysis comes from Leibniz's philosophy.
Finally, philosophy is an attempt to rationalize certain value systems. By justifying and popularizing progressive value systems, philosophy contributes to social progress. For example, the philosophy of American personalists (based, in turn, on the ideas of Leibniz) in the United States became the foundation for the formation of the ideas of Martin Luther King, and Tolstoy's philosophy significantly influenced Mahatma Gandhi.
This, of course, is not all that could be included in the answer to the question about the importance of philosophy in society, but I think it is enough to say that philosophy plays a significant role in the life of society and brings quite tangible benefits.
I think philosophy is a strictly formalized reflection on reality. In Russian, here you are thinking about the world as something, the philosopher does exactly the same, but logically strictly. Therefore, many philosophical schools have more authority than, for example, your and my arguments. Does it bring benefits? I think about the same as your own thinking about the world, only with the addition of buns for the rigor of this process and the gradual accumulation of conclusions.
This question can be asked about all the humanities. In higher education (and not only in Russia), there is a conditional division into “techies”and ” humanities”. From my personal experience with techies, I know that sometimes it is impossible to explain what the humanities and, first of all, philosophy “produce”. The answer that they produce meaning doesn't suit them.
As mentioned above, the main role of philosophy is to teach you to think. Philosophy “produces” people who can analyze. Philosophy “produces” people who start their sentences with the word “possible” rather than “actually”, that is, it teaches you to doubt and not accept anything as the ultimate truth.
Take, for example, political philosophy. In countries where this school is developed, political scientists become advisers to government leaders, and in general, university discourse has a huge influence on everyday political decisions. As a result, we can say that “benefit” is a subjective concept, but philosophy definitely has an impact.