Interview with Professor John Ayotunde Isola Bewaji

Abstract

I like to see myself as a student of Philosophy, given the expansive nature of the subject matter of philosophy and the ever-expanding issues which raise the need for philosophical reflection. While the perennial problems are still very much with us, new ones are being generated daily, such as the moral status of robots, the problem of identity in an age of organ transplantation, or the status of truth and honesty in a Trump age. I come from a town made popular by the Nigerian Cicero, Uncle Bola Ige, the Former Minister of Energy, murdered under the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo; that is, Esa-Oke, in Osun State of Nigeria—that makes me an Ijesha-man. I did most of my Western schooling in Nigeria before coming to Jamaica, up to doctoral level in Philosophy, but am a student of culture, Yoruba culture and global culture for that matter, as well as education, politics, religion and human existence.