The second type of preference seems to apply to anticipated perceptions of the world by the agent—such as the anticipated perception of eating ice cream in a waffle cone. It doesn’t have to be so immediately direct, since it could also apply to instrumental goals such as doing something unpleasant now for expected improved experiences later.
The first seems to be a more like a “principle” than a preference, in that the agent is judging outcomes on the principle of whether needless suffering exists in it, regardless of whether that suffering has any effect on the agent at all.
To distinguish them, we could imagine a thought experiment in which such a person could choose to accept or deny some ongoing benefit for themselves that causes needless suffering on some distant world, and they will have their memory of the decision and any psychological consequences of it immediately negated regardless of which they chose.
The second type of preference seems to apply to anticipated perceptions of the world by the agent—such as the anticipated perception of eating ice cream in a waffle cone. It doesn’t have to be so immediately direct, since it could also apply to instrumental goals such as doing something unpleasant now for expected improved experiences later.
The first seems to be a more like a “principle” than a preference, in that the agent is judging outcomes on the principle of whether needless suffering exists in it, regardless of whether that suffering has any effect on the agent at all.
To distinguish them, we could imagine a thought experiment in which such a person could choose to accept or deny some ongoing benefit for themselves that causes needless suffering on some distant world, and they will have their memory of the decision and any psychological consequences of it immediately negated regardless of which they chose.