Erdmann was born on 13 June 1805 in Wolmar, Livonia, where his father was a pastor. Ferdinand Walter (1801-1869), a Lutheran pastor, theologian, and General Superintendent of Livland, was Erdmann's maternal uncle. Erdmann and Ferdinand Walter both attended Hegel's lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit in 1827 in Berlin. Ferdinand Walter's son, Julius Walter (1841-1922), was a professor of philosophy at the Univ. of Königsberg. Erdmann studied theology at Dorpat (Tartu) and afterwards at Berlin, where he fell under the influence of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and was known never to miss Hegel's lectures. Then, from 1829 to 1832 he was a minister of religion in his native town of Wolmar. Afterwards he resigned from his position as pastor to devote himself to education and philosophy, but continued to minister throughout his life. He obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Kiel with the treatise, "Quidnam sit discrimen philosophiam inter et theologiam" (What is the Distinction between Philosophy and Theology?), written in 1830, in which he argued that philosophy and religion converge to a common truth, even though they differ in form of approach. In 1834 he began writing his "Habilitation" thesis to qualify in Berlin. This became volume 1 of his work titled "Versuch einer wissenschaftlichen Darstellung der Geschichte der neuern Philosophie" (6 vols., 1834-1853) (Attempt at a Scientific Presentation of the History of Modern Philosophy). In 1836 he was professor-extraordinary at Halle, became full professor in 1839, and remained there until his death. He died on June 12, 1892 in Halle.