Dispositionality

I was originally confused by the word disposition, as the word disposal is associated with the act of throwing things away.

To further confuse myself, I take any words that that's prefixed with "dis" to have an opposite meaning, which not always necessarily be the case.

What I've found useful in understanding disposition is to accept the fact that it has a different meaning through the evolution of language.

• Position: More static. The location of something.
• Disposition: More dynamic. The tendency of something to move in a certain direction.

Rather than thinking about the prefix "dis" to be the opposite of something, apparently the word "dis" can also mean to spread. So I can think of a disposition as the spread of something into a certain location.

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References

Glossary | Cynefin Wiki (opens new window)

Disposition: Propensity of a system to move to an adjacent possible in a certain direction |

Dispositionality | Cynefin Wiki (opens new window)

Dispositionality is the way in which something is placed or arranged, in relation to other things.

Backlinks

• Safe-to-try probes
  • Analyse: Analysis implies that we will understand the causality of what we do before we act. Given the nonlinear causality of a Complex system, it's hard to analyse them. Rather than analysing, we probe to understand its Dispositionality.
• Complex system should be probed to reveal its dispositional state
  • Unlike Ordered system, Complex system can't be analysed for solution. An easier way to navigate a Complex system to probe then understand its Dispositionality (Probe-Sense-Respond).
• Paving desire path as an example of probing for dispositionality
  • However, the idea of Dispositionality though can feel very abstract. In the Cynefin Basecamp Nov 2023, the example used is the idea of a desire path.