Demagogue, I really have to disagree. Modern philosophy is almost irrelevant, it's a pointless game of ping pong between people who think it's clever, but its effect on the societal changes we've seen over the last 50 years is negligible. I think of philosophy more as a branch of the arts, it's nice to have it around, but it's ultimately irrelevant and we could easily live without it. Science has much more of a claim to moving society forward with the technology that has allowed mass communication, removed the insular nature of the past, and increased the standard of living for the average person. That's what really matters to people. What science does is concrete and irrefutable, you can hold it in your hand. What philosophy does is...what? It's science and it's direct descendants such as technology that have removed the 'them and us' mentality of the past, and is increasingly laying bare the accountability of those in power. That's really what is going to continue to advance WORLD society, not the big-worded musings of philosophers. No one pays any attention to them. Your average pop star has more influence. You might say the job of philosophers is to decide the morality of new science such as human genetic modification, but it's not, and they won't decide it , they'll just argue about it, using as large a vocabulary as possible, like they argue about everything else and never come to any conclusion.