Today in my religion and science fiction class we focused on the X-Files. The assigned reading was a chapter from The Philosophy of The X-Files which compares Mulder and Scully, and philosophers James and Clifford, on the topic of belief and its justification.
At one point the choice between these approaches was summarized in what I think is a very helpful way. If we adopt a skeptical approach, we are less likely to believe things that are false, but will also probably not believe many things that are true but for which evidence is lacking. If we take a credulous approach, by believing everything we may be certain that we have believed everything that is true, but we will inevitably believe many things that are false as well.
Which approach do you consider preferable? Is there any real way to find a middle ground between them? And for those whose religious standpoint leads them to believe that God prefers one or the other of these approaches (or looks favorably on humans who adopt one or the other), why do you think that might be the case?
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