Answer:
I consider it extremely important. If there are one thing that has changed and guided humanity more than religion then it's philosophy. It is a discipline of questions, of thinking, of making one actively want to pursue the answers to the questions they hold. It is the mother of the sciences, of ethics, of the idea of higher learning itself. Every great civilization on this planet of ours had that group of people who taught and questioned, who thought and searched for answers. It's sad that philosophy departments at some universities are being scrapped because nobody wants to take anything beyond a 101 course or a simple required class.