If you are opining on the positions of the planets millions of years ago, you are clearly applying abstract thought to a current observation (where the planet is today) and the conclusion is metaphysical.
...It happens that all the laws used to describe planetary motions are time invariant. They have no preference for past or future and work exactly the same in either direction. Therefore, if using them to determine past planetary arrangements is "metaphysical," then so must be using them to predict future ones.
But I think a hard-nosed engineer and astronaut like Alan Sheppard would be more than dubious if you told him that all the decisions about when to launch Apollo 11, when to burn the rockets to escape earth's orbit, and etc, where based on "metaphysical" conclusions about the moon's future position.
We have a humpty-dumpty on our hands, defining words to mean whatever he wants them to mean. A recycled troll who will eventually be banned again.
Yes, that's correct.
Alan Sheppard is safe though. The time frames involved are strictl limited. Not so w/ cosmology or evolution.