dispositionsweise

Dispositionsweise is a German term used primarily in philosophy and linguistic analysis to denote the way of ascribing properties that express a disposition or tendency rather than an actual state. The word translates roughly as “in a dispositional manner.” It is often contrasted with Zustandsweise, meaning “in a state,” to distinguish descriptions that refer to potential behavior from those that describe current conditions.

In philosophical usage, a property described dispositionalweise refers to how an object would tend to behave under certain conditions. Examples include fragility (a glass tends to break when struck), solubility (a substance tends to dissolve in a solvent), or susceptibility to corrosion. Dispositional ascriptions are typically conditional: for instance, “the glass has the disposition to break if struck with sufficient force.” This contrasts with categorical or qualitative predicates that report a present state independent of triggering conditions.

Dispositionsweise appears in German-language discussions on the semantics of disposition talk, the nature of causal powers, and the analysis of laws and explanations. It helps articulate questions about whether dispositions are primitive features of objects or convenient summaries of regularities, and how such properties relate to underlying mechanisms.

Common debates surrounding dispositional theories address issues such as the role of triggering conditions, the problem of unmanifested or masked dispositions, and whether dispositions can be fully reduced to actual behaviors or require independent ontological status. The term remains a useful way to specify the manner in which statements about tendencies are framed within German philosophical discourse.

See also: disposition (philosophy), dispositional property, causal power, state description, modality.