the sole reason we act selfless at all is to make other people think we really are selfless
That doesn’t describe me. I sometimes act in ways that are detrimental to me and beneficial to others, out of a broader conception of my own self-interest: I figure that those actions are beneficial to my own projects, properly conceived.
I most specifically don’t want people to think I am exploitable (which is one interpretation of “selfless”). I do want people to think of me as someone with whom it is desirable to cooperate.
That’s news to me.
That doesn’t describe me. I sometimes act in ways that are detrimental to me and beneficial to others, out of a broader conception of my own self-interest: I figure that those actions are beneficial to my own projects, properly conceived.
I most specifically don’t want people to think I am exploitable (which is one interpretation of “selfless”). I do want people to think of me as someone with whom it is desirable to cooperate.