Sorabji's first academic post was at Cornell University in 1962, where he became associate professor in 1968, while working also as an editor of the Philosophical Review.
In 1970, he returned to England and joined the faculty of King's College London, where he was appointed Professor of Ancient Philosophy in 1981.
He went on to write three books on the ancient philosophy of physics: Necessity, Cause and Blame (1980), Time, Creation, and the Continuum (1983), and Matter, Space, and Motion (1988).
The aim of this project has been to publish the first translations into English of mostly Greek philosophical texts from the period 200–600 A.D, mainly commentaries on Aristotelian works.
He founded the King's College Centre for Philosophical Studies between 1989 and 1991, with the aim of promoting philosophy to the wider public.