NIMBY and the Ethics of the Particular

摘要

In their interesting and thought provoking paper, Feldman and Turner define the NIMBY position as revolving around concrete decisions and choices. A typical NIMBY activist does not so much argue against wind farms per se, but would prefer not to build them altogether rather than having them in his or her own backyard. According to the authors, a minimal requirement for a NIMBY claim is therefore that it expresses 'preference ranking', although they point out that a NIMBY position also has to 'involve something above and beyond the mere expression of preference'. Nevertheless, their primary conceptualisation of NIMBY claims is to treat them as defending alternative ranking of choices and expressing alternative preferences. By choosing this perspective, the authors tend to underestimate the fact that, more often than not, issues raised by NIMBY protesters do not merely concern concrete decisions, but also revolve around place meanings and world views.