That article doesn't answer the question of the title. It says that the number of philosophy majors has increased and then goes on to state how difficult majoring in it can be. So what? That doesn't prove its practicability.

That article doesn't answer the question of the title. It says that the number of philosophy majors has increased and then goes on to state how difficult majoring in it can be. So what? That doesn't prove its practicability. — Thorongil

It also names George Soros, Carl Ichan, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Steward Butterfield, Carly Fiorina, and many others, all philosophy majors who have been extremely successful in a worldly sense. The idea that philosophy is not practical is bunk - certain philosophy is not practical, that's for sure. But to say that philosophy isn't practicable in-itself (as in all philosophy is not practically useful) is to think that being an idiot is an advantage in being successful, which it clearly isn't.

Pragmatism with respect to morality doesn't sound appealing to me, and I wouldn't trust anyone who thought it was. — Thorongil

Why not? We do it all the time in courts...

It would, but ironically, philosophy would be cut from the calculus, as it has little to no practical utility. In this way, utilitarianism as philosophy is self-undermining. — Thorongil

Arguably. I doubt philosophy would be cut from discourse based on a perfect calculus as if that is something that can be attained without philosophy...

Anecdotes....

Anecdotes.... — Thorongil

Well, what kind of information would you expect when talking about high achievers? High achievers are by default exceptional and rare. You gave even less of an argument for the idea of philosophy being practically useless.

Sure, if you're going to work as a philosophy professor it's very unlikely that you'll achieve worldly success. But that has little to do with your area of study, and more to do with what you choose to do with your time. Your chosen activity only impacts very few people. Although, even in that case it's not impossible. For example, Osho was a philosophy graduate who quickly rose to fame (and riches) due to his public debating skills in India.

The fact of the matter is that philosophy gives one analytical skills, which are necessary in both self and other-understanding. You cannot achieve worldly success without understanding yourself and understanding others, since worldly success always comes from others anyway. That's why philosophy, law, psychology are all very useful in the world.