Education
Born in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Robert Denoon Cumming graduated from Harvard University in 1938 (Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude) before studying at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Born in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Robert Denoon Cumming graduated from Harvard University in 1938 (Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude) before studying at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
He taught at Columbia University from 1948 to 1985, when he retired as Frederick East. Woodbridge professor emeritus of philosophy. After the war he studied at the Sorbonne, gaining his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1950 under the supervision of Richard McKeon. Appointed instructor at Columbia University in 1948, he stayed at the university until his retirement in 1985.
He was chairman of the Columbia philosophy department from 1961 to 1964.