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ENEM Human Sciences Syllabus

The Human Sciences syllabus for ENEM in full: 4 chapters and 20 topics, every one listed below, plus 51 Human Sciences flashcards with answers.

4Chapters
20Topics
51Flashcards

Human Sciences syllabus: all 4 chapters

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics.

  1. History

    5 topics
    • Ancient History
    • Medieval History
    • Modern History
    • Contemporary History
    • Brazilian History
  2. Geography

    5 topics
    • Physical Geography
    • Human Geography
    • Economic Geography
    • Geopolitics
    • Brazilian Geography
  3. Philosophy

    5 topics
    • Ancient Philosophy
    • Medieval Philosophy
    • Modern Philosophy
    • Contemporary Philosophy
    • Ethics and Politics
  4. Sociology

    5 topics
    • Classical Sociology
    • Contemporary Sociology
    • Brazilian Sociology
    • Social Movements
    • Culture and Society

ENEM Human Sciences flashcards — 51 questions with answers

  1. In Ancient History, what were the two foundational river-valley civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and which rivers sustained each?

    Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians); Egypt developed along the Nile River, whose annual floods deposited fertile silt enabling hydraulic agriculture.

  2. What was the political system of the Greek 'polis' of Athens under Cleisthenes, and why is it historically significant?

    Athens developed a direct democracy in which free adult male citizens voted in the Assembly (Ekklesia). It is significant as the first documented democratic system, though it excluded women, slaves, and foreigners (metics).

  3. Distinguish the Roman Republic from the Roman Empire in terms of government.

    The Republic (509–27 BCE) was governed by elected magistrates and the Senate with shared power (consuls). The Empire (from 27 BCE, under Augustus) concentrated power in a single emperor, ending collective aristocratic rule.

  4. In Medieval History, define feudalism and its three core relationships.

    Feudalism was the socio-economic order of the Middle Ages based on: (1) suzerainty/vassalage (lord grants a fief in exchange for military loyalty), (2) the manorial economy (self-sufficient estates), and (3) servitude (serfs bound to the land owing labor and dues).

  5. What was the role of the Catholic Church in the Medieval period?

    The Church was the dominant political, economic, and cultural institution: it held vast lands, monopolized education and literacy (Latin, monasteries), legitimized kings, and shaped a theocentric worldview where faith explained the world.

  6. What economic and social transformation ended the Middle Ages and began the transition to the Modern era?

    The Commercial Revolution and revival of urban life (Renascimento Comercial e Urbano) revived trade and a money economy, strengthened the bourgeoisie, and undermined the feudal manorial system, aided by the Black Death's demographic collapse.

  7. In Modern History, what was the Renaissance and its guiding philosophy?

    The Renaissance (14th–16th c.) was a cultural rebirth centered on humanism and anthropocentrism, valuing classical Greco-Roman models, reason, science, and the individual over the medieval theocentric worldview.

  8. What triggered the Protestant Reformation of 1517 and who led it?

    Martin Luther's '95 Theses' protested the sale of indulgences and Church corruption, launching the Reformation. It split Western Christianity into Catholic and Protestant branches (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism).

  9. Define mercantilism, the dominant economic doctrine of the Modern Absolutist states.

    Mercantilism was state economic interventionism aimed at accumulating precious metals (metalismo/bullionism) through a favorable trade balance, protectionism, and colonial monopolies (Pacto Colonial).

  10. What were the Enlightenment's core ideas, and how did they challenge the Old Regime?

    The Enlightenment (Iluminismo, 18th c.) championed reason, natural rights, separation of powers (Montesquieu), popular sovereignty (Rousseau), and economic liberalism (Adam Smith), challenging absolutism, mercantilism, and clerical privilege.

  11. In Contemporary History, what were the two phases of the Industrial Revolution and their key energy sources?

    First Industrial Revolution (c. 1760, Britain): coal and steam power, textiles, iron. Second Industrial Revolution (c. 1870): electricity, petroleum, steel, and the internal combustion engine, spreading to Germany, USA, and Japan.

  12. What were the main causes of World War I (1914–1918)?

    Nationalism, militarism, imperialist rivalry over colonies, and the system of alliances (Triple Entente vs. Triple Alliance). The immediate trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo in 1914.

  13. Contrast fascism/Nazism with liberal democracy in the interwar period.

    Fascism and Nazism were totalitarian, ultranationalist, anti-communist, and anti-liberal, exalting the State, a single party, and a leader (Duce/Führer). Liberal democracy defends pluralism, individual rights, and free elections.

  14. What was the Cold War and its defining characteristic?

    The Cold War (1947–1991) was a bipolar ideological, economic, and military dispute between the capitalist USA and socialist USSR. It was 'cold' because the superpowers never fought directly, competing instead through proxy wars, an arms race, and the space race.

  15. In Brazilian History, what economic system defined the colonial period (1500–1822)?

    The Plantation system (plantation): large-scale monoculture (sugarcane, later gold and coffee) for export, worked by enslaved labor (indigenous then African), organized under the Colonial Pact benefiting Portugal.

  16. What was the immediate cause and the date of Brazilian Independence?

    Facing pressure from the Portuguese Cortes to recolonize Brazil, Prince Dom Pedro declared independence on 7 September 1822 (the 'Grito do Ipiranga'), founding the Empire of Brazil as a constitutional monarchy.

  17. How and when was slavery abolished in Brazil, and what law completed it?

    Slavery was abolished on 13 May 1888 by the Lei Áurea, signed by Princess Isabel. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, after gradual laws (Eusébio de Queirós 1850, Ventre Livre 1871, Sexagenários 1885).

  18. What characterized the Vargas Era (1930–1945) in Brazil?

    Getúlio Vargas centralized power, promoted industrialization and labor rights (CLT, 1943), and imposed the authoritarian Estado Novo (1937–1945), a nationalist and populist dictatorship with censorship and a corporatist state.

  19. In Physical Geography, what are the four external (exogenous) agents of relief modeling?

    Water (rivers/rain – fluvial and pluvial erosion), wind (eolian erosion), ice (glacial erosion), and living organisms/temperature (weathering). They wear down relief, while internal agents (tectonics, volcanism) build it up.

  20. Distinguish weather (tempo) from climate (clima).

    Weather is the instantaneous, momentary state of the atmosphere at a place (temperature, humidity, pressure). Climate is the average pattern of weather over many years (typically 30+) for a region.

Show the other 31 Human Sciences flashcards
  1. Name the main climatic factors that determine a region's climate.

    Latitude, altitude, maritimity/continentality (distance from the sea), ocean currents, air masses, vegetation, and relief. Latitude is primary because it controls solar incidence and temperature.

  2. What is the greenhouse effect and how does human activity intensify it?

    The greenhouse effect is the natural retention of heat by atmospheric gases ($\ce{CO2}$, $\ce{CH4}$, water vapor), keeping Earth warm. Burning fossil fuels and deforestation raise $\ce{CO2}$ levels, intensifying it and driving global warming.

  3. In Human Geography, define demographic transition and its stages.

    The demographic transition model describes population change: Stage 1 high birth and death rates (stable); Stage 2 death rate falls (rapid growth); Stage 3 birth rate falls (slowing growth); Stage 4 both low (stable/aging population).

  4. Distinguish the vegetative (natural) growth rate from total population growth.

    Vegetative growth = birth rate minus death rate (natural increase). Total growth also adds the migratory balance (immigration minus emigration): $\text{Total} = (\text{births}-\text{deaths}) + (\text{immigration}-\text{emigration})$.

  5. What is a demographic dividend (bônus demográfico)?

    The demographic dividend is the period when the economically active population (working-age) is proportionally larger than dependents (children and elderly), offering a window for economic growth if jobs and education are provided.

  6. In Economic Geography, distinguish the three economic sectors.

    Primary sector: extraction of raw materials (agriculture, mining, fishing). Secondary sector: industry/manufacturing (transforming raw materials). Tertiary sector: services and commerce (trade, banking, transport, information).

  7. What are the differences between the DIT (Old International Division of Labor) and the New International Division of Labor?

    The old DIT had colonies/underdeveloped nations exporting raw materials and importing manufactures from industrialized centers. The new division relocates industrial production to peripheral countries (cheap labor), while cores concentrate on technology, finance, and R&D.

  8. Define globalization and identify its main driving forces.

    Globalization is the growing worldwide integration of economies, cultures, and information. It is driven by advances in transport and telecommunications (internet), transnational corporations, trade liberalization, and financial deregulation.

  9. In Geopolitics, what was the bipolar world order and what replaced it after 1991?

    During the Cold War the world was bipolar (USA vs. USSR). After the USSR's collapse in 1991, analysts describe a multipolar order with multiple centers of power (USA, EU, China, Japan, emerging blocs), or a brief US-led unipolar moment.

  10. What is the geopolitical classification of countries by development, and what replaced the 'Three Worlds' model?

    The Cold War 'Three Worlds' (1st capitalist, 2nd socialist, 3rd underdeveloped) was replaced after 1991 by the North–South divide: the developed 'Global North' versus the developing/underdeveloped 'Global South'.

  11. Name three major economic blocs and their type of integration.

    European Union (EU): economic and monetary union (common currency, free movement). Mercosur: common market (in progress). USMCA/NAFTA: free-trade area. Blocs deepen from free-trade area → customs union → common market → economic union.

  12. In Brazilian Geography, name Brazil's five official regions and one defining trait of each.

    North (Amazon rainforest, low density), Northeast (semi-arid sertão, historic sugar economy), Center-West (Cerrado, agribusiness), Southeast (most populous and industrialized), South (subtropical climate, European colonization, high HDI).

  13. What are Brazil's main biomes (domínios morfoclimáticos)?

    Amazônia (equatorial rainforest), Cerrado (tropical savanna), Caatinga (semi-arid), Mata Atlântica (Atlantic forest), Pantanal (wetland), and Pampa/Campos Sulinos (southern grasslands).

  14. Describe the pattern of Brazilian urbanization in the 20th century.

    Brazil urbanized rapidly and late (mid-20th c.), driven by rural exodus toward the industrializing Southeast. It produced macrocephalic cities, favelas, informal work, and metropolization, with over 80% of the population now urban.

  15. In Ancient Philosophy, what marked the shift from mythological (mito) to rational (logos) thought among the Pre-Socratics?

    The Pre-Socratics sought a natural, rational principle (arché) explaining the origin of all things (e.g., Thales: water; Heraclitus: fire/becoming; Parmenides: unchanging being), replacing mythological explanations with reasoned inquiry (physis).

  16. Contrast Plato's and Aristotle's theories of knowledge and reality.

    Plato: reality lies in the immaterial, eternal World of Ideas/Forms, known through reason; the sensible world is mere copy (Allegory of the Cave). Aristotle: reality is in concrete substances uniting form and matter, and knowledge begins in sense experience (empiricism).

  17. What is the Socratic method and its purpose?

    The Socratic method combines irony (exposing the interlocutor's ignorance) and maieutics ('giving birth' to ideas through questioning). Its aim is self-knowledge ('know thyself') and reaching truth via dialogue, following 'I know that I know nothing.'

  18. In Medieval Philosophy, what is Scholasticism and its central problem?

    Scholasticism was the medieval effort to reconcile faith and reason. Its central problem was harmonizing religious dogma with philosophy, notably Thomas Aquinas synthesizing Christian doctrine with Aristotle ('fides et ratio').

  19. Distinguish Patristics from Scholasticism.

    Patristics (2nd–8th c., e.g., St. Augustine) built Christian doctrine using Platonic/Neoplatonic thought, subordinating reason to faith. Scholasticism (9th–14th c., e.g., Aquinas) systematized theology using Aristotelian logic in universities, seeking a balance of faith and reason.

  20. In Modern Philosophy, contrast Rationalism with Empiricism.

    Rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz) holds reason and innate ideas as the source of true knowledge ('Cogito, ergo sum'). Empiricism (Locke, Hume, Bacon) holds that all knowledge derives from sense experience (the mind as 'tabula rasa').

  21. What is Descartes' methodic doubt and its first certainty?

    Methodic doubt systematically doubts everything that can be doubted to find an indubitable foundation. The first certainty is 'Cogito, ergo sum' (I think, therefore I am): even while doubting, the thinking self must exist.

  22. Summarize Kant's synthesis of rationalism and empiricism.

    Kant argued knowledge requires both experience (sensory content) and the mind's a priori categories (form): 'thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.' We know phenomena (as they appear), never the noumenon (thing-in-itself).

  23. In Contemporary Philosophy, what did Nietzsche mean by 'God is dead' and the transvaluation of values?

    'God is dead' signals the collapse of absolute (Christian/Platonic) foundations for morality. Nietzsche called for a transvaluation of values, rejecting slave morality, affirming the will to power and life (the Übermensch creating new values).

  24. What is the core of Marx's philosophy of historical materialism?

    Historical materialism holds that the economic base (means and relations of production) determines society's superstructure (politics, law, ideology). History advances through class struggle, and capitalism generates worker alienation and exploitation (mais-valia).

  25. In Ethics and Politics, distinguish ethics from morality.

    Morality (moral) is the set of concrete norms, customs, and values a society practices. Ethics (ética) is the philosophical/theoretical reflection that critically examines and justifies those moral norms and the principles of good conduct.

  26. Contrast Kant's deontological ethics with utilitarianism.

    Kant's deontology judges actions by duty and universal principle (the Categorical Imperative: act only on a maxim you could will as universal law), regardless of consequences. Utilitarianism (Bentham, Mill) judges actions by consequences—maximizing happiness for the greatest number.

  27. Contrast the social contract views of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.

    Hobbes: the state of nature is 'war of all against all', so people cede all power to an absolute sovereign (Leviathan). Locke: to protect natural rights (life, liberty, property) via a limited liberal state. Rousseau: to express the 'general will'; sovereignty stays with the people.

  28. In Classical Sociology, what is Durkheim's concept of the 'social fact'?

    A social fact is a way of acting external to the individual, coercive, and general across society (e.g., laws, language, religion). Durkheim treated social facts as objective 'things' to be studied scientifically, founding sociological positivism.

  29. Summarize Max Weber's concept of social action and rationalization.

    Weber's sociology is comprehensive (compreensiva): it interprets the subjective meaning individuals give to their social actions. He analyzed the rationalization of modern life, bureaucracy, and how the Protestant ethic favored the 'spirit of capitalism.'

  30. In Contemporary Sociology, what is the culture industry (indústria cultural) per the Frankfurt School?

    Coined by Adorno and Horkheimer, the culture industry is the mass production of standardized cultural goods as commodities. It promotes conformity, passivity, and alienation, reducing critical thinking and serving capitalist consumer society.

  31. In Brazilian Sociology, what are the key ideas of Gilberto Freyre and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda on Brazilian identity?

    Gilberto Freyre ('Casa-Grande e Senzala') emphasized miscegenation and the myth of racial democracy from the plantation household. Sérgio Buarque de Holanda ('Raízes do Brasil') described the 'homem cordial'—Brazilians mixing public and private spheres, favoring personal ties over impersonal rules.

ENEM Human Sciences FAQ

What is in the ENEM Human Sciences syllabus?

ENEM Human Sciences is split into 4 chapters: History, Geography, Philosophy and Sociology. Together they contain 20 topics.

How many chapters are in ENEM Human Sciences?

4 chapters, containing 20 topics. The largest chapter is History, with 5 topics.

Are there flashcards for ENEM Human Sciences?

Yes — a 51-card Human Sciences deck, printed in full in the flashcards section of this page and available in the Examius app with spaced repetition. The free plan covers one exam of your choice, including its flashcards; Examius Pro, a one-time purchase, unlocks every other exam and deck.