Reason: The Means And The End

One possible pitfall for certain people seeking truth with an incomplete grasp of reason is the idea that logic is merely a means to the end of discovering or establishing various truths.  According to this approach, reason is needed not for its own sake, but for the sake of obtaining knowledge of other things.  It is treated not as something omnipresent and inherently valid that merits acknowledgment on its own, but as a tool that is only grabbed when needed for specific tasks, as if reason is not universal and therefore inescapable.  This "utilitarian" stance towards the laws of logic is present in the worldviews of everyone who thinks that there are situations and concepts that do not call for rationalistic insight or that reason can be set aside at some times.

Without reason, there would neither be such a thing as truth itself nor a way to know anything about truth, since even the comparatively small forms of knowledge that come from sources like introspection and the senses would not be comprehensible without being governed by reason and a grasp of reason on the part of the one experiencing them.  By virtue of governing all things and being grasped on some level in all experiences, even if only to a minimal extent by non-rationalists, logic is more than just a means to an end.  It is the only thing that requires nothing else to illuminate itself and that all things are understood in light of.

Thus, logic is its own end, for there is nothing outside the scope of logic, even if human epistemological limitations prevent one from discovering all truths about some matters.  Reason itself is not confined to one or some aspects of reality.  Universal, necessary truths of sound deductive reasoning have no exceptions.  They are the foundation on which all possible knowledge stands, but they are there at the destination as well.  They are the ultimate "alpha and omega" of epistemology and metaphysics.  There is more to consider than just the nature of reason, yet, at the same time, nothing can be validly approached or understood without a consistent grasp of logic.

Reason is the means and the end.  God, the external world, one's own mind, and other things can be known and need to be understood if one seeks a sound worldview that is not incomplete in its categorical scope.  However, there is still nothing but assumptions for those who do not cling to reason along every stretch of their worldview and let it lead them to truths they may otherwise have never expected.  Admitting reason's inherent place at the heart of all things does not trivialize everything else.  Instead, this is the sole way to grasp these other existents and issues as they truly are.  To submit to reason is not to neglect the rest of reality, but to approach the whole of reality without bias and to avoid error.