chley was born on 27 February 1960 in Hertfordshire, England. He studied philosophy and received a BA degree from the University of Essex in 1985 and a PhD in 1988. He obtained his M.Phil at the University of Nice in 1987. Critchley was appointed a lecturer in philosophy at Essex in 1989, becoming reader in philosophy in 1995, and professor in 1999. Since 2004 Critchley has been professor of philosophy at the New School for Social Research.[3] He held the chair in philosophy at the New School from 2008–2011 and became the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy in 2011.
He has held visiting professorships at numerous universities, including Sydney (2000), Notre Dame (2002), Cardozo Law School (2005) and at the University of Oslo (2006). In 2009 he was appointed a part-time professor of philosophy at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, where he runs a summer school[4] and teaches in philosophy and liberal arts. Critchley is also a professor of philosophy at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.[5]