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.