One.

1 "philosophy is merely an abstraction from science."
------- This claim is erroneous. Philosophy started much earlier than aristotle, as a matter of fact, his great teacher Socrates already started asking questions - it is from who aristotle developed his practical observation related to philosophy, the father of later Empiricism.

2 "What is the whole?"
----- the common sense definition for this: everything you know.

3 "How do you know the whole?"
----- by studying all the great scholars in human history and inherit what they know and develop to reach a new level.

4 By the way, I studied the philosophy in the west and got my degree more than 20 years ago, so, unless you have a REALLY good reason, please don't teach me the basics of this stuff.

But i am still happy to discuss any topic with you on the western philosophy, just please don't make me feel bored - unless you got a good reason. (if you could equally show how much philosophy training you got - that will bridge our differences probably)

Hope this helps.