The Qualia Of Higher-Order Consciousness Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [2]

Edelman (1992: 151):

To remain scientific, the extended TNGS must assume that both the human subject and the human scientific observer who studies that subject experience qualia. This assumption is necessary to assure that meaningful intersubjective scientific exchange occurs. According to the theory, qualia are categorisations by higher-order consciousness of the "scenes" and "memories" provided by primary consciousness. They involve recategorical relationships that are ultimately governed by how evolutionarily selected values interact with memory. Creatures that have primary consciousness alone can neither report qualia nor reflect on them. If they experience them (and we can only infer that they do), they experience them solely in the remembered present.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the "scenes" and "memories" provided by primary consciousness are value-weighted systems of perceptual meaning.  The qualia of higher-order consciousness are the linguistic values assigned to such perceptual tokens, through the correlation of systems of perceptual meaning with systems of linguistic meaning.