Philosophic inquiry has incubated and hatched all of our hard sciences. This alone should garner respect, but philosophy still has practical application. Moral psychology is still in its infancy and would be rudderless without philosophical guidance. Philosophical debate regarding the definition and functioning of the mind informs neuroscience. Philosophy helps us make sense of the very small and very large in physics and cosmology.
Philosophy allows one to filter out 'mental masturbation' from ideas that are meaningful. Labeling inane ideas (mental masturbation) as philosophy is akin to singing out of tune and then claiming that you were being jazzy. Philosophy and jazz both require a great deal of knowledge and practice; however, both are invoked by the ignorant and lazy as the activity being engaged in after being called out for the lack of depth or expertise.
Philosophy allows one to filter out 'mental masturbation' from ideas that are meaningful. Labeling inane ideas (mental masturbation) as philosophy is akin to singing out of tune and then claiming that you were being jazzy. Philosophy and jazz both require a great deal of knowledge and practice; however, both are invoked by the ignorant and lazy as the activity being engaged in after being called out for the lack of depth or expertise.
