Let us begin with mereology. This is often defined as the theory of the part-whole relation, but such a definition is misleading. It suggests that mereology has something to say about both parts and wholes, which is not true. As we shall see in Sec. 2, the notion of a whole goes beyond the conceptual resources of mereology and calls for topological concepts and principles of various sorts. By itself, mereology is best understood as the theory of the parthood relation, regardless of whether the second term of the relation may be said to qualify as a whole entity.

[…] his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man […]

This Propination was carry'd about towards the right hand, where the superior Quality of some of the Guests did not oblige them to alter that method.

Thus far, I have been arguing that Ginsberg's poetry represents an attempt to demasculinize and derationalize American poetry; however, Ginsberg's poetic project also has an aggressively masculine side as well.