In an era where traditional debates often exacerbate polarization and hinder genuine understanding, we introduce the Antidebate — a transformative approach to public discourse. Moving beyond the adversarial nature of conventional debates, the Antidebate fosters a space where participants engage collaboratively and competitively, emphasizing intellectual humility and the integration of heart, mind, and spirit. This practice seeks not victory over an opponent but a shared journey toward verition — an embodied experience of truth. By embracing paradox, nuance, and complexity, the Antidebate aims to revitalise our collective sensemaking processes, offering a compelling alternative to the binary frameworks that dominate current public dialogues.
Under the guidance of Michael Bready from Perspectiva we will spend an afternoon together exploring and experiencing the Antidebate for ourselves. This promises to be an intense experience, so please make sure you can commit to the full session. Drinks and snacks are provided. As a reward we will offer you a ticket for the Critical Mass Session in Theater de Veste that same evening where we will share the outcomes of the afternoon!
Antidebate
The antidebate is an experimental social praxis devised by Perspectiva. If the aim of debate is to safeguard the epistemic commons essential to peace, democracy, and social harmony, we must confront the reality that, as currently practiced, it often undermines these very goals—descending into tribalism, cheap gotcha moments, and character assassination.
By valuing humility, curiosity, and the insight that emerges between differing perspectives the antidebate seeks to make understanding rather than winning the objective and sees disagreement and dissonance as the fertile soil for new truths and ideas to blossom. The antidebate takes place over 3 acts.
In the first act, participants decide the topic of discussion by moving through a process that involves reflections on what really matters, before voting on what subject is most deserving of the group’s attention.
In the second act, we move between small and whole group discussions exploring our thoughts, feelings and values as they relate to the question at hand.
And in the third and final act, we move into “swarming”, where we playfully engage in a simultaneously collaborative and competitive process, taking a stand for what we believe in and trying to convince others to join us.
Michael Bready is an educator, musician and social entrepreneur, dedicated to social transformation and cultural renewal. He is the founder and director of Youth Mindfulness, a charity whose programmes have reached hundreds of thousands of young people across more than 50 countries, consults internationally on wellbeing education, supporting initiatives in Chile, Iceland, and India. As Associate Director at Perspectiva, Michael develops practices and processes that explore transformative responses to the metacrisis.
