THE ETHICS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIAL RESEARCH. BETWEEN CODIFICATION, INSTITUTIONALIZATION, AND RESEARCH PRACTICE

The last decade has seen a progressive codification and institutionalization of research ethics in the social sciences. There are more and more codes of ethics that standardize the principles of ethical conduct of research and ethical committees controlling research projects. Behind the codification and institutionalization of the ethics of scientific social research is, among others, the belief that ethical codes and committees will significantly contribute to the ethical conduct of female researchers and protect entities involved in research, especially its participants, from harm. In the article, I argue that this is not enough, because both researchers and ethics committees should be guided by moral imagination in their ethical decisions.