This paper discusses how considered convictions as the constitutive elements of reflective equilibrium are possible, as well as in what sense they accompany or promote the birth of “we”. It points out that, since convictions of subjects are the fruit of inter-subjectivity that cannot be reduced to subjectivity, convictions about the basic structure of society in Rawls’s thought do not belong to any “we” which is relative to some “them”, but to the absolute WE which includes both “we” and “them”. Therefore, this paper regards considered convictions with reasonableness of inter-subjectivity as the achievements of a “lower-order reflective equilibrium”. Upon what has been done, this paper further explores in details the significance of considered convictions for the formation of identity and community, and finally explains in what sense they constitute the prerequisite of reflective equilibrium.
