 According to what is sometimes called the “standard” account of non-symmetric relations, we can (Russell 1903: §94; Grossman 1983: 164; Paul 2012: 251–2). A non-symmetrical relation \(R\) has a direction whereby it travels from one thing to another. What distinguishes \(a\Rel b\) from \(b\Rel a\) is that \(R\) runs from \(a\) to \(b\) in the former case and \(b\) to \(a\) in the latter. So differential application is possible because non-symmetric relations have direction, i.e., because non-symmetric relations run one way, rather than another, amongst the things they relate. (See Johansson 2011 for an argument that ‘direction’ is really a cluster term covering different logical and intentional notions.)