[Serious] Generally speaking, is philosophy a worthwhile subject of study?

[polymath257]

Can you give a recent (within the last couple of centuries) where that has happened? When has metaphysics pointed a direction to solving a problem in the sciences?

Well, for example, philosophers re-contemplating views on the nature of time in light of the findings of special and general relativity, perhaps suggesting more credence in views that are more in alignment with relativity (such as eternalism or B-theory of time) as opposed to those not backed up by the current science (such as presentism or A-theory of time), or maybe instead suggesting that we not fully discard what our intuitions say and go with a more moderate view of time (like a hybrid of eternalism and presentism).

And, again, is there any case where this has actually impacted the science?

Another example, what does each interpretation of quantum mechanics say about such things as possibility, probability, randomness, agency, etc. Where to go next with this? How can we get science to confirm any of these interpretations exactly?

And, once again, each of these interpretation is *exactly* the same basic theory: quantum mechanics. They all give the same predictions, the same observations, etc. And because of that, they have *no* impact on the actual science.

Once again, the discussion of these interpretations is primarily a philosophical exercise and has had essentially no impact on the science (as fun as it is). Plus, in practice, the physicists do the philosophy better than the philosophers because they actually understand the science and math.. So even as philosophers, the philosophers fail.