Whole
means: (a) That from which no part is lacking of those things as composed of which it is called a natural whole. (b) That which so contains its contents that they form a unity; and this in two ways, either in the sense that each of them is a unity, or in the sense that the unity is composed of them.
For (i) the universal, or term generally applied as being some whole thing, is universal in the sense that it contains many particulars; because it is predicated of each of them, and each and all of them (e.g. man, horse, god) are one; because they are all living things. And (2) that which is continuous and limited is a whole when it is a unity composed of several parts (especially if the parts are only potentially present in it; but otherwise even if they are present actually).
And of these things themselves, those which are so naturally are more truly wholes than those which are so artificially; just as we said of the one,
because wholeness
is a kind of oneness.
Again, since a quantity has a beginning, middle and end, those to which position makes no difference we describe as all,
and those to which position makes a difference we describe as whole,
and those to which both descriptions can be applied, as both all
and whole.
These are all things whose nature remains the same in transposition, but whose shape does not; e.g. wax or a coat. They are described as both whole
and all
; for they have both characteristics. Water, however, and all liquids, and number, are described as all
; we do not speak of a whole number
or whole water
except by an extension of meaning. Things are described as all
in the plural qua differentiated which are described as all
in the singular qua one; all this number, all these units.