Sure Amaram could have been a good person. The reason he is not is that he chose not to be one. Yes if someone like Kaladin had been his commander I think that he could have amounted to a great man but that is just a could have. Amaram's main problems and the causes of his villainy are (I think) twofold. Firstly his narcissism. Time and time again he refuses to believe that anyone else can be as good as him or that he is in any way inadequate. The second is his uncontrolled passion. The belief that he must do everything he can to achieve what is right. If a parental figure had done what every commander does on the first day and beet him down to the point where Amaram had lost then his impulses could have been channeled productively. Instead of an uncontrolled zealot looking to prove himself the best hero ever he could have been an OK commander and a genuinely decent human being. This did not happen because the only people that did surround him seem to be encouraging him to indulge his impulses. Gavilar encouraging a mach between him and Jasnah, Sadeas pushing him to battle, the sons of Honor using him as a primary leader? Come on! Its like they are trying to maintain his delusions of grandeur! Will no one take him to task about his failings ever?