Abstract: Having experienced capitalist crisis both in economy and politics in the 21st century, the “meta-narration” of capitalism once self-proclaimed as universal value has gradually been self-denying. Since 20th century, the “meta-narration” in the ideological field has not only triggered a historical crisis called “the end of history”, but also brought about a political crisis through representative democracy that flaunts “freedom of opinion”, and eventually led to the crisis of philosophy. Historical materialism is a theory of crisis in modern society. On the one hand it introduces the critique upon the capitalist ideologies from the view of historical science; on the other hand, it also facilitates the occurrences of revolutionary events as a theory of practice. Marx’s insight into the law of historical development and his exploration of the "Eradicating Philosophy" remains an important theoretical basis for overcoming the crisis of reality.

Key words: historical materialism, theory of crisis, philosophy, politics