Sean Erwin is a Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Theology and Philosophy at Barry University.
He received a B.A. in Philosophy and English (Writing) from Penn State and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt where he studied French and Italian Critical Theory and Early Modern Philosophy with a focus on Spinoza.
His research includes the Aristotelian tradition in Arabic and Jewish philosophy, Italian Renaissance and Early Modern thought—particularly Machiavelli and Spinoza—as well as 20th-century French and Italian philosophy.
He has served as the Senior Editor of the Humanities and Technology Review and is the past Program Chair and past Vice President of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy. Professor Erwin is also the co-founder and current co-chair of the International Machiavelli Society.
He is the author of numerous articles as well as book and art reviews. In 2023, Dr. Erwin received the University’s highest honor for scholarly achievement—the Sr. Jeanne O’Laughlin, O.P., Scholar’s Award—in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research and scholarship.
In Machiavelli and the Problems of Military Force: A War of One’s Own (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), Erwin revealed how overlooked figures like Lucretius and Aelianus Tacticus shape Machiavelli’s Art of War. Erwin argues that Machiavelli’s militia project is more than a manual of tactics; it lays the foundation for a political order where martial discipline and the values that structure it increasingly shape institutions and the practices of civic life.
In his new project — Machiavelli and the Brutes — Erwin investigates how the Florentine turns to animals not just as symbols of political strength and cunning, but as provocations that unsettle what it means to be human. Beyond the familiar lion and fox of the Principe, Erwin uncovers a larger pattern in Machiavelli’s works where animals complicate princely education, reshape religion, and recast the art of war. Tracing this dynamic through the Principe, Dell’arte della guerra, the Discorsi, and L’asino d’oro, Erwin argues that animals for Machiavelli function as resources, adversaries, and as an unsettling alternative that haunts what it means to be human.