Peter Kivy was educated at the Walden School in New York City, as well as with private teachers in oboe and music theory. He received his BA with highest honours in Philosophy at the University of Michigan, in 1956, and an MA in Philosophy from that University in 1958. He then went on to receive an MA in Music History from Yale University, and a PhD in Philosophy from Columbia University. He has taught in the Philosophy Department of Rutgers University since 1967, and is presently Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy. Professor Kivy has published numerous books and articles, both historical and analytic, in the philosophy of art, and is a past President of the American Society for Aesthetics.