In recent years, ethics in andragogy has become a much frequented topic. Compared with the debates on professional ethics in regulated professions such as social work or teaching, the situation is more complex in andragogy. The present paper makes use of knowledge gained in the field of profession theories, sociology and theories of organisation, as well as available empirical findings relating to ethical problems in adult education. The aim is to show that in the case of adult education, any universal professional ethics are very unlikely to enforce.