“Adapting” is Valmisa’s translation of the Chinese term yin (to respond to) and other associated terms, such as cong (to follow), bian (to adjust beneficially), shun (to follow along with), sui (to go along with), and xun (to follow a path). Valmisa also abstracts the concept from other passages in premodern Chinese texts that implicitly convey it. Adapting, according to Valmisa, is “a procedural method for performing actions that respond to thespecificities of a situation … a meta-model of action in which many different courses of action can be incorporated” (22–23). A “meta-model” of action, she explains, “serves to establish constitutive models of action” (24)—“constitutive” meaning “context dependent” (18). Simply put, adapting is responding, but not haphazardly.
Adapting, Valmisa says, allows for “a maximum degree of efficacy with the best possible use of resources, competencies, and affordances,” and by “efficacious” she means the ability to “achieve any potential goal” (5)....
