Code of Ethics in the Context of Possible Misuse and Content

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reflect on the question of to what extent a situation may arise in which codes of ethics are not needed or are even inappropriately applied. The possible advantages of codes of ethics are relatively well known, and there is ample literature on them. Literature on the conditions for the adoption of ethical codes is also quite common. There are far fewer articles about the uselessness of ethical codes in certain real-world contexts. Even less is said about the detrimental consequences of the partial use of codes of ethics. Our contribution is an attempt to show in which situations a code of ethics can act as a useless institution with no real influence, and also that certain elements of a code of ethics can lead to detrimental consequences if they are adopted and implemented.