Belonging to Jalandhar, he was from the 1973 batch of the department of philosophy at Panjab University. With logic as his subject of study, Gautam taught at PU for nearly three decades before moving to JNU to start the Centre of Philosophy there. He also served as vice-chancellor of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly.

His significant contribution in recent years was his translation of ‘Sophie’s World’, the 1991 Norwegian novel by Jostein Gaarde, into Hindi. Commenting on this work, Punjabi poet and novelist Manmohan Singh said, “Gautam was truly dedicated to his subject, and this translation was a major achievement”.