Achieving genuine integration of the normative and empirical in bioethics is no small task. It is nevertheless an important one because of the focus of bioethics upon questions and scenarios of central relevance to the lives of individuals and populations. Clarity in our descriptions of and responses to the barriers and enablers of health, identity, life and death, and agency is becoming increasingly important in a rapidly diversifying bioethics containing many perspectives on these issues. Empirical bioethics promises to facilitate greater decisional clarity for better health outcomes.