A Physical Science Of The Brain Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Edelman (1992: 11):

Keeping in line with physics, should we declare an embargo on all the psychological traits we talk about in everyday life: consciousness, thought, beliefs, desires? Should we adopt the elaborate sanitary regimes of behaviourism? Should amorous partners say to each other: "That was good for you; was it good for me too?" The ludicrousness of this last resort becomes evident when we consider the denial it entails. Either we deny the existence of what we experience before we "become scientists" (for example, our own awareness), or we declare that science (read "physical science") cannot deal with such matters.

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From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, physical science models the brain in terms of the material and relational processes from which emerge the conscious processes, mental and verbal, that project ideas (thoughts and desires) and locutions (spoken and written texts).  The relation between the two levels can be construed as a realisational relation between neurological form and semiotic function, wherein semiotic functions become established through being encoded by reference to neurological form.