A disposition is a habit, a preparation, a state of readiness, or a tendency to act in a specified way.
The terms dispositional belief and occurrent belief refer, in the former case, to a belief that is held in the mind but not currently being considered, and in the latter case, to a belief that is currently being considered by the mind.
In Bourdieu's theory of fields dispositions are the natural tendencies of each individual to take on a certain position in any field. There is no strict determinism through one's dispositions. In fact, the habitus is the choice of positions according to one's dispositions. However, in retrospect a space of possibles can always be observed.
Famous quotes containing the word disposition:
“How strange or odd some’er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“That good disposition which boasts of being most tender is often stifled by the least urging of self-interest.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)