Action-Omission Symmetry Accepted, Praise-Blame Symmetry Rejected

The W-Defense has been a leading argument in defense of the Principle of Alternative Possibilities. In this paper, I discuss Palmer and Liu’s (2021) recent application of the W-Defense as an argument for action-omission symmetry. I then employ the W-Defense as an argument in favor of leeway compatibilist action-omission symmetry—that is, I show that the W-Defense is compatible with a leeway compatibilist view regarding action-omission symmetry. Afterwards, I extend the W-Defense as a defense for praise-blame asymmetry. The upshot is that the W-Defense may be consistently used to defend both action-omission symmetry and praise-blame asymmetry, resulting in a new and attractive hybrid view available to compatibilists, which I dub semi-symmetry. I close by highlighting significant advantages the semi-symmetry view has over current Frankfurt-style compatibilist views, including Fischer’s (2017) latest asymmetry thesis, Cyr’s (2021) hard-line symmetry, as well as a new compatibilist reply to Swenson’s (2015, 2016, 2024) “No Principled Difference Argument”.