In the movie THE MATRIX, Morpheus compliments Neo for his ability, during training, to improvise.
IMHO, one can only improvise, successfully, when he or she understands and can apply the principles.
I suppose one could learn just the principles and not the techinques, but it doesn't seem very likely.
Rather, we learn the techniques and practice them until one day we understand the principles without having learned them.
Perhaps in certain forms, such as Aikido or Ba Gua Zhang, one could both practice the techniques and study the related philosophy, and thereby accelerate his understanding of the principles.
My son and I watched Don Fry fight Tank Abbott.
In the beginning, it didn't go well for Don Fry.
Finally, though, Don gave Tank a perfectly timed and angled shove, with hardly any apparent effort, and Tank went down.
Don followed Tank to the ground and got a submission.
My son, who has eight years of judo, shouted "Judo!", referring to the shove (unbalancing) and not the submission technique.
I said, "I've never seen that technique."
My son said, "He improvised it."
When one fully understands the principles, the techniques materialize as needed.
Of course, I don't really know this.
I only believe it.