He was born in Nam Dinh, French Indochina. He was ordained Catholic priest in 1943. He was a philosophy graduate of the Seminary of Saint Albert le Grand, and a professor of philosophy at Bui Chu Seminary (1943–46). He afterwards went to Paris, France to study French civilization, sociology and philosophy at Institut Catholique de Paris, and Confucianism at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises. Returning to Vietnam in 1957, he taught philosophy at the Le Bao Tinh Academy and the Saigon University Faculty of Letters since 1960, Van Hanh University since 1967, and Dalat University. Philosopher Kim Dinh died on 25 March 1997 at Carthage, Missouri, USA, aged 83.
