Symbolic Logic and the Logic of Symbols

In Logic, 'Validity' is defined as defining a certain concatenation of symbols.  Now, each of those symbols is conceived as potentially representing some range of objects.  But, that representative relation is one of Universal to Particular.  Thus, the very existence of a 'symbol' involves Reasoning that is independent of that which is characterized as 'valid'--a distinction that is at the basis of Kant's response to Hume, i. e. that there is a Reason that is independent of that which functions as a 'slave to the passions' by constructing a concatenation of means and ends.  So, 'Symbolic Logic' presupposes a Logic of Symbols that has generally gone unnoticed by Logicians, Semiologists, and Philosophers of Language.