The objective of the texti s to draw attention to the connections that
concerned and still concern the formulation of ethical codes in social sciences. Discussions that - in the first half of the 20th century - were focused on (1) the protection of science against power (political) press of the society (2) the protection of the society against the abuse of science for power (political) decision and practice and (3) the protection of participants in a scientific research against the danger of their harm as a consequence of their participation in the research, were followed by the acceptance of ethical codes in many social scientific disciplines in the second half of the 20th century. Ethical codes in social disciplines take into account the principle of voluntary participation, the principle of confidentality, the principle of non-maltreatment, and the principle of accuray. Usually they are structured either based on a certain type of relation between the anthropologist and othe subjects (e.g. ASA Ethical Guidelines), or based on a certain type of activity the anthropologist carries out (e.g. AAA Ethical Codex). and Unlike these professional ethical codes respecting the needs of particular scientific disciplines, in the Czech Republic, rather the acceptance of institutional codes, de facto ordered by Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic as of 17 May 2005, was put through. As a conseqence there of, ethical codes in our environment are often incorrectly understood rathe as a restrictive instrument than a support, and the acceptance there of is rather mechanical than thought-out in many cases. Even in this attitude, one can find exceptions, for example the Czech Association for Social Anthropology the formation of which in 2008 is closely connected with the formulation of the ethical codex. This can serve as an example that no matter how ethical codes can be criticized
as simplifying and imperfect, they can also encourage discussions
about the nature of the discipline itself and consequently become a
kind of support and protection of the researchers.