Theoretical and semantic aspects of the modular physiological adaptation

Adaptation is a fundamental concept in biology. The use of this notion in physiology presents a special problem, on the one hand, due to its widespread application to practically all physiologic phenomena of organic economy, on the other hand, because there is no formal definition providing a demarcation between adaptive processes and secondary processes without relating them with adaptation. Therefore, the objective of this work is to formalize a modular definition of adaptation that allows a differentiation between adaptive processes and non adaptive ones. I conclude that the use of the concept of 'module' in the definition of adaptation makes it possible to demarcate adaptive processes. Furthermore, the proposed definition lets us eliminate the use of notions such as those of 'features' and 'characteristics' and solve a methodological problem encountered at organizational levels.