It should be emphasized that the fruitful alternative to symmetry is not the assumption of asymmetry, but just non-symmetry, admitting both symmetry and asymmetry as possibilities without being committed to either as a foregone conclusion.

DEFINE: Distinguishes non-symmetry (neutral openness to either possibility) from asymmetry (a committed assumption of imbalance), offering a third conceptual stance.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 631