It was an update of Hume's earlier work, A Treatise of Human Nature, which was released in London under an assumed name in 1739–1740-. Hume attempted once more to communicate his more matured ideas to the public by publishing a shorter and more combative work after being disappointed with the reception of the Treatise, which, in his words, "fell dead-born from the press." The Enquiry was the result of his labours. The Enquiry omitted a large portion of the Treatise's content in favour of stressing and clarifying its most crucial points.

Hume's ideas on identity, for instance, are absent. However, more important ideas are kept, such Hume's defence of habit's place in a theory of knowledge.

Both in the years that would immediately follow and today, this book has demonstrated to be very significant. It is cited by Immanuel Kant as the work that roused him from his so-called "dogmatic slumber."  The Enquiry is widely considered as a classic work of contemporary philosophy.