The eloquent “Enquiry”: virtue or merit in its proper colours

The Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals is an eloquent and artful work. Does it differ from the Treatise mainly or only in style? In order to answer this question, the essay takes into consideration some differences between the two works and the revisions that Hume made to the Enquiry between 1751 and 1777. These differences and revisions shed further light on the development of Hume's thought, especially on the question of style and abstruseness, association and sympathy. The Treatise and the Enquiry differ mainly in strategy. The Enquiry, Hume declares, “is of all my writings, historical, philosophical, or literary, incomparably the best”; yet, he adds, “it came unnoticed and unobserved into the world”. Perhaps it was better to fall “dead-born from the press”, like the Treatise. However, Hume’s passion the new strategy of the Enquiry seems to determine his total enjoyment. When he calls it “the best” he is like a “little miss, dressed in a new gown for a dancing-school ball”.