In 1968, the philosopher Martin Heidegger noted:

Thinking does not bring knowledge as do the sciences. Thinking does not produce usable practicalwisdom. Thinking does not solve the riddles of the universe. Thinking does not endow us directlywith the power to act. (Heidegger, 1968, p.159)

It is this apparent limitation in the usefulness of thinking that is one motive for developing empiricalbioethics as an innovative approach to addressing philosophical problems in healthcare. Equally, there are less prosaic motivations for innovation in the field, such as the need to explain to funders
precisely what their money is being used for by bioethics researchers. This new collection, broadly speaking, addresses both of these motivations.