Bad example. Fortran and Pascal aren't required knowledge for Java or Python. How can one understand contemporary philosophy, economics, or psychology without being familiar with Hegel, Marx and Freud? A liberal arts education is about context.

I read all three in political science classes. I think philosophy might be a dead academic discipline, at least in the US. Most of the big names seem to have moved to more focused disciplines; e.g political science and women's studies.