Layla Williams

Susan Wolf holds that while blameworthiness requires the ability to do otherwise, praiseworthiness does not. We first tackle the question of what the ability to do otherwise involves, highlighting its relationship with the control condition on moral responsibility. We propose a counterfactual test that would be acceptable to proponents of the rational abilities view such as Wolf. Using this counterfactual test, we argue that Wolf's asymmetry thesis is false: praiseworthy agents, just like blameworthy agents, must be able to do otherwise, in the sense prescribed by the counterfactual test. We conclude the essay by showing that considerations put forward by Wolf and her allies about the normative character of moral responsibility do not imply any asymmetry between blameworthiness and praiseworthiness.