In Philippine Culture, Loob or Kalooban refers to one's inner self, or, more specifically, to the internal dimension of a person's identity. Its external counterpart is labas - the physical, outward appearance. Loob is a core concept in Filipino Psychology, a field which is unthinkable without both the internal and external dimensions, "loob"/"labas". Loob or kalooban has been compared to similar concepts in other Southeast Asian and Oceanian cultures, such as the Indonesian concept of batin or kebatinan.
Loob as a Psycho-Moral Reality: Katauhan at Pagkatao
"Walang sarili kung walang loob." According to a publication by Dionisio M. Miranda entitled Loob--The Filipino Within, we can view Loob as a Psycho-Moral Reality. This part of the publication tells us that Loob is actually made up of two more concepts, and these are Katauhan and Pagkatao. Now from this, most people would think that Katauhan and Pagkatao are similar concepts, but these translate to Personality and Character, respectively, which are also usually used interchangeably but are two very different things. Personality , according to Loob as a Psycho-Moral Reality, embodies the traits, attitudes or habits that distinguish one individual from another. It is the complex or one's behavioral and emotional tendencies. It is not just the structure or the organization of these qualities, but it is the whole of these qualities that gives form and meaning to an individual and his existence. It is more or less static in the way that it is the basic or initial particularity of a person, what makes him different from everyone else. It could eventually be viewed from static to dynamic terms. Moral Character, on the other hand, is understood to be mainly dynamic and secondarily static. It is related to personality in the sense that character is based on personality and is initially determined by it. In the concrete sense, character is the aspect which constitutes one's ethicity which structures him not only as subject but further as a moral subject and moral agent. Content-wise, it is the values and attitudes, principles and norms, ideals and projects that lend the person his moral form. In the generic sense, it responds to perceptions of realities of good and evil, right and wrong, appropriate and inappropriate and so on. Personality as Katauhan, Character as Pagkatao The core of both personality and character is the ego or the self. Sarili manifests itself either as personality or as character.
* This kind of bait may initially characterize the katauhan of the self for example, as a kind of natural endowment. In being consistent with the self over time, this defines the pagkatao of a person. In other words, "bait must not remain merely natural; it must also become personal."
* Sadya where the ought that is presented is a value for the person himself either as something that is already part of his nature or something needed to perfect it.
* Pasiya is that which takes a clear and concrete stand for or against such options. Kalooban as decisive will looks similar to isip as paninindigan. However, isip is more theoretical and generic; kalooban is more practical and concrete.
Concepts whose expression involves "loob"
The word Loob, simply taken as 'inside' and not a construct, is also used for "looban," which means an interior compound, or community; and for the term "manloloob", which means 'robber', literally 'someone who enters'. As a core concept of value, Loob and its variants are a critical aspect of numerous Filipino value constructs, of which the following are examples:
