Do I really need to know the history of science and philosophy in order to come up with Lorentz Transformation? No, I need solid understanding of physics and the mathematical models that are already available in that framework, and then build upon those.
Sure, these articles could be fun to read, but one does not really expect to have more practical knowledge after reading them. How would you use Hume’s arguments to help you learn the theory of relativity better?
And it’s not just in physics. I can make the same claim in almost any field of science that values results over cheap talk. In game theory for example, does philosophy help you come up with something as magnificent as Nash Equilibrium? No, but Kakutani’s theorem does. Learn the math and practical knowledge, the rest is a waste of time.
It depends on your goals and where your interests align. The domain of philosophy is fundamental and all encompassing, and you have philosophical opinions that you can choose to examine or not. From a career perspective you are almost certainly right that time is better spent extending your skills in the empirical domain but others have a different temperament and have use for philosophy. And for some of those people, their contributions are long lasting and impactful.
Without the philosophy to back it up how can you justify your belief in the mathematics?