ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the logical status of bridge assumptions as well as to discuss several heuristics for their construction. It aims to explore the term "bridge assumption' in detail to clarify with the help of a concrete example the interplay between the hard core of Rational Actor theory and bridge assumptions within an explanation that fulfills the adequacy-criteria of the C. G. Hempel- P. Oppenheim schema of a scientific explanation. Siegwart Lindenberg and Hartmut Esser, who developed and applied the notion of bridge assumptions in the context of rational choice theory, want to retain the advantages of theory-driven "top-down analysis”. Social production functions link goals with specific means and thereby serve as bridge assumptions. A researcher who relies on it can either draw up a whole range of bridge assumptions about the instrumental goals employed by the actors in a certain empirical field to attain the general goals, or, none at all.
