According to Alidoosti et al., why can ethics in software engineering not be achieved just by following a code?

Because ethics is context-dependent, not a clear matter of right and wrong, and hard to recognise; ethical aspects are not rules or requirements that can easily be checked, so they need a continuous analysis process instead.

Software-intensive systems can promote, support, undermine or corrupt the values of individuals and society. Handling that responsibility calls for a continuous process that:

• takes social life into account,
• seeks complexity rather than clarity,
• relies on collective rather than individual responsibility,
• works through dialogue rather than finished solutions.

In practice this means engineers must know the system's stakeholders, understand how their rights and well-being are affected, and look for the values at stake in design decisions.