The belief that philosophy is just a discipline we learn in school so that we can be critical in our thinking is basically wrong. Philosophy was actually founded to become a way of life for people. The whole idea of philosophy is to make people seek after the truth. This is really one of the ways you can be influenced through philosophy. Philosophy also teaches what is right; things that can be regarded as morals and ethics. Can you now imagine how transformed we would become if we can be living by different philosophical beliefs and principles?
Philosophy does not only want you to reason about why something is happening, but it also wants you to imbibe the lessons around it in your daily living. Philosophy has everything to make a man accurate and a rational thinker. Through reasoning, a man will be open to several options that can be followed to achieve a goal. Personally, I've read about a lot of scientists who started being great philosophers.