Final answer:
A thing is a whole when its parts are comprehensively enumerated and their interrelationships with the whole are understood. Philosophically, this can also touch on notions of permanence and unity across all things.
Step-by-step explanation:
A thing is considered a whole when all its parts are identified and understood in relation to the whole itself. This involves the process of enumeration where we list or count the parts that make up the entire entity. By doing so, we can pose deliberate questions about the whole by examining how the parts interrelate and the role they play within the whole.
Furthermore, some philosophical perspectives argue that whatever exists in any form has an underlying permanence, suggesting that change is merely an illusion - a view echoing the thoughts of the early pre-Socratic philosophers. This implies that all things are actually one, permanently at rest, and cohesive as a single entity. Yet, in a more material sense, Richard Feynman's statement "Everything is made of atoms" leans into the idea that the physical constitution of a whole is fundamentally based on its smallest units.