But it can. Philosophy can clear the brush between two competing paths. If we take path A, that leads to X, Y, Z, whereas if we take path B, that leads to J, K, L. Philosophy has done nothing to say whether reality is more A-like, or more B-like, but in delineating and making clear the consequences of an A-like world vs a B-like world, it has done a significant service in producing physical results. When experimentalists show an inkling of a tiny sliver of 'K', we know can collapse with logical certainty around the B-like world.

Trudging down those paths prior to experimental evidence is of very real value and is not disconnected from the physics itself.