Philosophy....academic or practical?

answers1: What the heck. Your question puzzled me at first glance.
Then I realized that it's a false dilemma and you're confused.
Academic philosophy IS the practical kind. I completely agree with
tuesdaysgreen. Most philosophers at universities are very practical
people, I'd even argue more practical that the everyday layman, and
they use their knowledge and research to work with the rest of the
community. Philosophers of mind can work with computer scientists on
problems concerning A.I. Ethicists work with politics, public policy,
medical ethics board advisers, etc. Philosophers of science may
collaborate with scientists to help solve problems about time and
space. I don't know where you get off saying that philosophy is ether
academic or practical. That's the problem with many of the people here
on Y!A. Pretty much nobody knows a lick of academic philosophy. They
might as well call this section "random questions" Hardly any of the
questions here actually relate to academic philosophy. Or if they do
you have to bend over backwards to make them. <br>
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btw. tuesdaysgreen, if you read this. I've seen tons of your answers.
You're actually one of the very few people here that I agree with
almost every time they answer something related to philosophy. I
notice you cite SEP a lot (which is prob why i agree with u so much.
you're giving answers from articles written by scholars) I can't tell
if you're like an undergrad or a graduate student in philosophy who
actually knows a lot, or if you're just really good at doing research
with SEP. Either way you actually give real answers. Just wanted to
let you know. It's refreshing for this section.
answers2: I think it's a combination of natural understanding & knowledge
answers3: I base it on logic mostly, so I suppose a combination.
answers4: I don't see how anyone can think philosophy impractical
after thinking about it at all. Every time somebody makes a value
judgment, they're doing philosophy, which means that studying some
philosophy can help them do it better. Just try to avoid making any
value judgments for a whole day, see how practical it is to avoid
philosophy. <br>
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Just as an example, what is more practical than ethics? What is your
idea of a practical subject, chemistry? Do we use knowledge of
chemistry more often than judgments about what actions are right or
wrong? <br>
<br>
Go to a philosophy department, and you're likely to find ten immensely
prectical and community-involved people for every one
head-in-the-clouds type that people who are not working philosophers
assume that working philosophers must be. <br>
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Seriously, it's the oldest of all academic disciplines. Why should
"academic" be "impractical"? Engineering is an academic discipline,
but I don't hear anyone calling it impractical.
answers5: The Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote, "What is philosophy?
Does it not mean making preparation to meet the things that come upon
us?" <br>
(Discourses 3.10.6). <br>
If philosophy is not practical - if it cannot help one to understand
the world, oneself, one's actions, purpose, suffering - then it serves
no purpose. Academic philosophy, to me, is no more than mental
masturbation. It's not going to finally do anything meaningful for
you. <br>
I've known plenty of people who have read Plato in order to be able to
say "I've read Plato" and one would never guess, from their behavior,
that they'd ever read anything deeper than the Sunday Comics section.
If philosophy doesn't in some way impact, change, help direct your
life, help give you perspective in a dark time, it's worthless.
answers6: I declare victory.
answers7: Mainly practical...In order to maintain a certain level of
happiness and understanding in my own day to day life, philosophy
provides to me a certain level of propriety and morality.