The choice of the specific position under each categorical stance is independent of the specific position selected in the other categories. In other words the individual positions held within the metaphysical, epistemological, and methodological triad are mutually independent choices that are selected without reference to the position held in each of the other categorical stances. Operationalism - Only those entities that can be simply and directly observed are to be counted as real. The entities involved are those that may be defined by some sort of operation with various physical instruments or equipment. Empiricism - Only information from observational and experimental results are acceptable as a source for cosmological theorizing.
Scientific knowledge is founded in sensory observation.
Rationalism - It is permissible for cosmologists to originate their theoretical efforts in very general ideas about what the universe should be like. Inductivism - Logical induction is used to produce generalizations and extrapolations based on solid observational and experimental information. The main point is that within science itself there are inconsistencies between what it means to be scientific from one discipline to the next. This is important because understanding the philosophical basis for a scientific interpretation of nature is an essential first step for a rational critique of the conflict between scientific cosmology and biblical cosmology.