Cudd received a dual baccalaureate in mathematics and philosophy from Swarthmore College in 1982 before going on to the University of Pittsburgh to receive a master's in philosophy, a master's in economics, and a doctorate in philosophy, in 1984, 1986, and 1988 respectively. After receiving her doctorate, Cudd accepted a position at Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. She left in 1991 for a similar position at Occidental College, but returned to the University of Kansas in 1993. She was promoted to Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kansas in 1994, full Professor of Philosophy in 2000, and received a secondary appointment as Director and full Professor of Gender and Women's Studiesin 2001 In 2008, Cudd became the Associate Dean for Humanities for the University of Kansas, and in 2012, Cudd was named Distinguished Professor, the highest academic honor the University of Kansas bestows on faculty members. In 2013, Cudd was named Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies.
Research areas and publications
Cudd's research has focused in several areas, namely feminist theory, the philosophy of social science, and social and political philosophy. Cudd is one of the founders of analytical feminism, a branch of feminism which seeks to apply the methods of analytical philosophy to feminist issues and topics. She's authored two books and co-edited three more: Capitalism For and Against: A Feminist Debate (coauthored with Nancy Holmstrom in 2011, Analyzing Oppression in 2006, co-edited Philosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the 21st Century with Sally Scholz in 2014, co-edited Feminist Theory: A Philosophical Anthology in 2006, and co-edited Theorizing Backlash: Philosophical Reflections on the Resistance to Feminism in 2002. She has also written dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals, written several encyclopedia articles, and many book reviews. Much of Cudd's work analyzes power relationships through rational choice theory. Cudd's analysis of oppression argues that in an objective moral theory it is necessary to know whether or not harms experienced by individuals were indeed actual harms that the person shouldn't have suffered and are thus, in fact, oppressive. Cudd argues that the simple absence of good choices is not a form of coercion - for coercion to occur, objectively better choices must have been available to the subject.
