http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reason
cause <the reason for earthquakes>
Your link disagrees with you. Your very own quote disagrees with you. Even if it didn't disagree with you, you're still failing to establish that instinctive action precludes reasoning.
To wit- Being gay is not a choice. One does not go "You know, I think I will be gay from now on." It does not work that way. They have always been gay, and come to that startling revelation. Then they rationalize why it is OK to be gay, and why they like the things they like. This is also why "reprogramming camps" dont work. You dont choose what you find enjoyable. You cant be told what you find enjoyable either. You can choose to do things that you know to be enjoyable, but that is most certainly NOT the same thing.
How was this ever in question? This is such a rapid shift of what the conversation was about that I frankly call bullshit.
The sun appears to rise every day. (fact)
Human question: Why?
Human reason: A god must do it!
The reason ALWAYS comes AFTER the fact.
Just because YOU assign an incorrect and post dated reason doesn't mean that all reasoning is incorrect or non predictive. The sun appears to rise every day because the earth is spinning. That's the reason. The physical principles involved in the rotation of the earth have existed before the earth itself did, this is a wholly predictable thing given knowledge of the condition of the earth and it's local space, even before the very first sunrise (Well, if there was such a thing, obviously that's like, one of those questions of definitions given the earth didn't just pop into existence fully formed.) If another earth suddenly appeared around another sun and we were able to observe that it was spinning, we would be able to say that because it's spin, it will now have a wave of sunrises continually moving across it.
In fuller context, because people seem unable to follow my train of thought--
When a person is subjected to a stimulus, they dont "decide" that it is pleasurable, painful, ticklish, whatever-- Their nervous system simply reacts to it. That reaction is "the fact."
The REASONING comes later, after that fact. Humans are not precognitive, and our predictive ability is tied exclusively to past experiences. We can reason that, eg, "This thing is a lot like that other thing that I like, so I will probably like it too." but that does not make it true that "I like this other thing". We can try that thing and hate it. Crystal pepsi, for instance.
Except, going forward in FUTURE events, you can use this reaction to past events as a reason to predict future events. You can predict the same stimulus will be good, and that can be your reason to seek it, or you can predict it will be bad, and that will be your reason to avoid it. Furthermore, when we make an assumption about an unclear future using similar past events, that's still making a rational and reasoned decision! It doesn't need to be true to be those things, shockingly perhaps to you. Having a valid reason for what you're doing does not always Equal truth.
In the EVEN FULLER context:
I asserted that I do not need a reason for my known preferences, which is what kicked this off.
This is logically sound as a statement, given the above chain of events to arrive at a reason.
1) I experience a stimulus.
2) I have a reaction.
3) I create a reason to explain my reaction.
Step 3 is optional. Steps 1 and 2 happen without my control, and are simply facts.
In this example, step 2, my reaction, is the basis of my preference. EG, "I liked it."
We can then put it this way.
1) Something happened
2) I liked it.
3) I come up with some reason to explain why I liked it.
I do not need to come up with a reason to accept that I liked it. It is simply a fact.
Except now moving forward we can have chains of events like this:
1) I have a choice to have something happen to me or not.
2) In the past I liked it, so I have an informed reason to think I will enjoy it in the future.
3) I choose to have it happen to me again.
4) I liked it.
Or
1) I have a choice to have something happen to me or not.
2) In the past I disliked it, so I have an informed reason to think I will not enjoy it in the future.
3) I choose to not have it happen to me again.
Or even
1) I have a choice to have something happen to me or not.
2) In the past I liked it, so I have an informed reason to think I will enjoy it in the future.
3) I choose to have it happen to me again.
4) I disliked it.
5) I can figure out why it changed or not, but ultimately I probably won't choose that again in the future if I think it's likely to be disliked again.