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Does philosophy actually ever help anyone?

I live in shared accommodation and it's ok I guess except there's this one guy who's a some kind of hippy type (I mean he smokes weed a lot not that he has long hair or wears tie dye) listens to strange music, never ever goes out and reads and reads philosophy books all the time.

I have tried telling him that he doesn't need philosophy of he lets Jesus into his heart and I think deep down he sneers at me for saying that (except he's too polite to make this obvious).

So is philosophy any good? Has it ever actually improved anyones life ?

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CopperCicada · M

Philosophy comes from the Greek φιλοσοφία or philosophia, love of wisdom.

In the most fundamental sense this philosophia is the investigation of the big questions we face. What does it mean to exist? What does it mean to know? Where do values come from? What are values? How does one act in the world? Are there higher truths that are beyond our perception?

Even if one is a person of faith, one is engaging in this endeavor of philosophia. And faith traditions are full of philosophers. In the Christian tradition there's Augustine, Tertullian, Martin Luther, more recently people like Karl Barth, Paul Tillich...