Kim was the Emeritus William Herbert Perry Faunce Professor of Philosophy at Brown University (since 1987). He also taught at Swarthmore College, Cornell University, the University of Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins University, and, for many years, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. From 1988–1989, he was president of the American Philosophical Association, Central Division. Since 1991, he has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Along with Ernest Sosa, he was a joint editor of the quarterly philosophical journal "Noûs".