A conscious mind is a mind with a self in it.

Damasio’s formulation reflects his broader thesis that consciousness is inseparable from the construction of a “self” by the brain. On this view, a mind can process information, regulate the body, and even display sophisticated cognition without being conscious in the full sense unless it also generates a perspective—an owner of experience to whom perceptions and feelings are presented. The line emphasizes that consciousness is not merely wakefulness or intelligence but a structured, first-person point of view. It also signals Damasio’s interest in the bodily roots of mind: the self is built from mappings of the organism’s internal state, which anchor experience to a living individual.