ANNOTATION:
No, no, no! You've got it all garbled.

No, no, no! You've got it all garbled.

You've got it all quite, quite, garbled. There are two senses of the term 'Metaphysics', and you don't grasp either of them!

First of all, aside from usage as 'beyond' or superior to', the prefix 'meta' can also simply mean 'regarding' or 'about', as is the case with the word 'Metaphysics'. Metaphysics is the inquiry which studies another discipline, that of Physics, and how to do Physics. Much as Algebra relates to Mathematics.

Philosophy consists of Logic, Metaphysics, Ethics and also questions of meaning and value, even Esthetics. Metaphysics consists of Phenomenology, Epistemology, Methodology, and Ontology. These are all distinct.

Logic, reasoning which only pertains to internal consistency of statements, is the study of the principles of reasoning, especially of the structure of propositions as distinguished from their content, and of method and validity in reaching conclusions.

Phenomenology studies the Phenomena. The Phenomena is that we perceive at all. This includes sensory input, as well as reflection, our experience of our own thoughts and emotions. Psychology, sensory Physiology, and NeuroScience may all have bear upon Phenomenology, and hence Epistemology, Methodology and Scientific Method.

Barring Solipsism, the theory that one lives in an illusion, hallucination, or dream, and barring, also, Relativism, the anti-rational doctrine that reality and even Logic, and not merely perception, without distinction, is subjective -whatever that means, and embracing the acceptance of Ontology and our existence in objective reality, Phenomenology deals with the ongoing simulation, or model, of reality, in which we live.

Epistemology is the question of how knowledge arises. Given an Epistemological theory of how knowledge arises, a Methodology is an attempt at a deliberate systematic and even logical application of said Epistemology. A sound Scientific Method should have Methodological and Epistemological support.

Empiricism is the Epistemological theory that knowledge arises, one way or another, from experience. Thus, Empiricism relates Phenomenology to Epistemology.

The second meaning of Metaphysics is as the domain of questions that can even be discussed intelligently, even if they are not known to be testable, i.e., refutable, hence, Scientific. It is only in this sense that Metaphysics goes "beyond" Science.

Ontology is the question of what is. Ontology is the domain of objective reality. Hence, Ontological questions and statements employ the verb 'to be'.

Ontological questions are pursued by Epistemologically. But objective reality, which is the domain of Ontology, also includes that which is not Epistemologically accessible or knowable, at least by us, as yet. This may relate to certain questions pertaining to measurement uncertainty, for example. Thus Ontology is also included in Metaphysics, in the sense of the word as the domain of questions that can even be discussed intelligently, even if they are not known to be testable, i.e., refutable, hence, Scientific.