This paper develops a layered account of how unconscious mentality relates to self-consciousness. Historically, Leibniz and Kant already suggested that conscious thought rides on sub-personal processes and a formal “I.” Contemporary work refines this picture: higher-order and self-representational views tie consciousness to self-representation, while global-workspace models distinguish broadcast access from background computation. I argue, from debates on unconscious belief and qualia, that first-person authority is achieved through interpretation and that denying unfelt qualitative states risks epiphenomenalism. Evidence from blindsight and embodiment-body-ownership illusions, interoceptive prediction-shows minimal selfhood is scaffolded by largely unconscious processes. Dissociations between experience and meta-awareness caution against equating consciousness with report; a cautious pluralism follows.