Paulsen received an associate degree from Snow College in English in 1957, a bachelor"s degree from Brigham Young University in Political Science in 1961 (in which he was Brigham Young University"s valedictorian), a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1964, and a Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1975, with emphasis in the philosophy of religion.
From 1994 to 1998 he held the Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University. He was an active faculty member at Brigham Young University from 1972-2011. Paulsen joined the philosophy department at Brigham Young University around 1972 and specializes in Kierkegaard, William James and the philosophy of religion. In addition to holding the Richard L. Evans Chair, he has also been an Eliza R. Snow Fellow at Brigham Young University. He presented on the "The Divine Feminine" at the 2009 Brigham Young University Women"s Research Institute Colloquia.
Paulsen was also the coordinator for the Society of Christian Philosophers inaugural inter-mountain meeting at Brigham Young University in 1992.
