近二十年以來，史坎楞之契約論的影響力日益顯著，不僅是在規範倫理學上，也在後設倫理學上。作為一個哲學理論，史坎楞的契約論主要處理三項議題：
第一，當我們說某個行為是「對」或是「錯」的時候，是什麼使得行為之對錯的宣稱為真或是為假？
第二，我們如何知道行為之對錯的宣稱是真還是假？我們是透過什麼樣的推理而得知？
第三，為什麼道德具有重要性？如何說明我們為什麼在乎道德？
根據史坎楞的契約論，使行為之對錯的宣稱為真或是為假的，並不是基於人類福祉的事實，而是基於規範行為之原則是否會被所有人合理同意。當禁止行為的原則都是沒有人能夠合理否絕的原則時，我們便知道行為是錯的。而我們之所以在乎道德，乃是因為我們想要找出對所有人皆可證成的行為指導原則。

Over the last twenty years, Scanlon’s contractualism has become an influential position not only within normative ethics but also within meta-ethics. As a philosophical account, Scanlon’s contractualsim deals primarily with three issues:
First, when we claim that a certain act is right or is wrong, what makes such claims true or false?
Second, how do we know whether a claim about right/wrong is true or false? What kind of reasoning do we use to decide?
Third, why is morality important? How to explain why we care about morality?
According to Scanlon’s contractualism, claims about right and wrong are not based on facts about human well-being; rather they are based on principles that it would be reasonable for people to agree to. When an act would be forbidden by principles of conduct that no one could reasonably reject, we know that it is wrong. And the importance of morality is explained by the fact that we aim to find principles that can be cited to justify our actions to each other.