In 1965, Binswanger received his Bachelor of Science in Humanities and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a brother of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. In 1973, he earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy from Columbia University. His dissertation was in the philosophy of biology and presented a theory of the goal-directedness of living action. It was published in 1990 as "The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts". He has since taught philosophy at several universities, including the City University of New York, The New School, and the University of Texas at Austin.