Dan Walden
Also the empathy argument is a terrible one; it reduces a constitutive human activity (thinking) to the acquisition of some kind of measurable capacity. If great books proved to have no effect on empathy it would still be worthwhile to read them.
tyler
the most commonly heard argument for reading great books is that they develop empathy. maybe that's true. but i think it's less appreciated that they also teach you humility: that you're not that smart, you're not that special, and someone has had all your ideas before