At stage 0 it is immediately taken for granted that there is a sense of self, an identity. This is a very bold leap and his entiry theory builds on this.
Also, why do you say that the theory builds upon this? I didn't find it to be an important part of the theory.
In state 0 such discovery just hasn't happened yet.
The distinction made by the stupidest causal temporal relationships from senses with some built-in importance in them.