Of all of Hobbes' works, "De cive" has had the greatest impact on modern legal and political philosophy. It was not with the "Leviathan," which he wrote in his native language and aimed primarily at his compatriots during the English Republic, that he made a name for himself among the scholars of the 17th and 18th centuries, but rather with this work, which first appeared in Latin in 1642. With it, he became an overnight European celebrity. Thus, when Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, and Kant referred to Thomas Hobbes, they had this work in mind, which, in contrast to the "Leviathan," initially saw many new editions and translations and only gradually fell into the shadow of the "Leviathan" during the 20th century. This edition is not only a complete new translation.