He was definately a philosophical guy. You have to remember that you can be very phylosophical and yet violent, even evil. You also have to remember that second to martial arts, Bruce Lee was an actor, he had dabbled in film as long as he had kung fu. He loved film, it was a passion of his. To enter the ring on a large scale was to enter the possibility of destroying his film career. I dont know about you but I would not endanger my love of something to prove a point. Granted he did not follow the phylosophical buddhist teachings of Shaolin, well, because he was not trained at shaolin. He was trained by Ip Man. If you look at Ip Man himself it seems as though he would teach this method of smash before thinking. Thats what opium does to you. Seriously though, I think your totally right, he was deffinately the type of guy to get straight to the arse whooping, and not giving an inch.
He even says so himself.

"If your opponent will graze your skin, you pound his flesh, if he will pound your flesh you fracture his bones, if he will fracture your bones you take his life."