The happiness or misery of individuals is a matter of supreme indifference to the Absolute, which, in order to realise itself in time, ruthlessly sacrifices sentient beings.
The spirit of Hegel's philosophy, in its bearing on social life, was thus antagonistic to Progress as a practical doctrine.

Progress there had been, but Progress had done its work; the Prussian monarchical state was the last word in history.

Kant's cosmopolitical plan, the liberalism and individualism which were implicit in his thought, the democracies which he contemplated in the future, are all cast aside as a misconception.

Once the needs of the Absolute Spirit have been satisfied, when it has seen its full power and splendour revealed in the Hegelian philosophy, the world is as good as it can be.

Social amelioration does not matter, nor the moral improvement of men, nor the increase of their control over physical forces.
6.
The other great representative of German idealism, who took his departure from Kant, also saw in history a progressive revelation of divine reason.