Enzyme
OK, people don't act solely from an anticipation of not being caught, but following your argument, the 'something worth doing' is done in full knowledge of doing wrong. A burglar robs your house for his own benefit, but he does so in full knowledge that what he's doing is wrong - which is why he waits until you're out or until it's dark. He just doesn't care that it's wrong (and the assumption of not being caught is a benefit). He could get a job and earn his money legally and without moral issue, but it's easier to do what he knows is wrong. This example strays, however, from the premise of physical cruelty that we started with.

Kicking the cat down the stairs seems to have no other benefit than that it is funny. What underlies both examples is that both are done in full knowledge of them being wrong. Whatever other justification is added to them, it doesn't change the fact that they demonstrate our readiness to act cruelly or wrongly because it's easier than doing otherwise - surely evidence of our propensity for evil. It's just easier to break 'the rules' - and the fun derived from that is related directly to the fact that there are rules to break. I can't see that doing wrong for the sake of doing wrong can become your doing good merely because it is the justification. That smacks of sophism: "I am not doing wrong because my wrongdoing does me good. My kicking this cat is not cruel or evidence of my cruelty because it makes me laugh." These are the words of a madman rather than a philosopher. And Nietzsche went mad.
(frankspencer, Tue 11 Dec 2007, 16:34, Reply)