you are confusing perceived self with the self as context. The perceived self undergoes changes according to bodily development, but the self as context remains the same until the point of death - it is the self as context indicated in "I think therefore I am"
This is types of consciousness (from general to self awareness etc) - but it is all under the umbrella of Consciousness.
There is as much empirical validation backing up the belief that consciousness is an emergent phenomenon as there is empirical validation backing up intelligent design.
