In her honour, Robert Lewins established the Constance Naden Medal and had a bust of her installed at Mason Science College (now the University of Birmingham).

[2] From the late 1870s onwards Naden developed a philosophy called Hylo-Idealism in collaboration with Robert Lewins, MD, whom she first met in 1876 and corresponded with for the rest of her life.

The key principle of this philosophy is that "Man is the maker of his own Cosmos, and that all his perceptions – even those which seem to represent solid, extended and external objects – have a merely subjective existence, bounded by the limits moulded by the character and conditions of his sentient being.

"[7] Naden published a number of essays defending this view, in the Journal of Science, Knowledge, The Agnostic Annual and other periodicals.

[10] Naden's grandmother Woodhill died on 21 June 1887[nb 1] and she inherited a considerable fortune, which allowed her to travel to Constantinople (Istanbul), Palestine, India, and Egypt[2][4] with her friend the educationalist and campaigner for women's right to higher education, Madeline Daniell.

[11] She returned to England in June 1888 and bought a house on Park Street, Grosvenor Square,[2] which she shared with Daniell.

[2]While some noted her tendency towards sarcasm in formal debates and academic discussions, she was well-loved and had very warm personal and intellectual friendships.

[22] Herbert Spencer, who had been an important influence on her work, remarked: "I can think of no woman, save 'George Eliot,' in whom there has been this union of high philosophical capacity with extensive acquisition.

"[23] Lewins founded the Constance Naden Medal at Mason College in her honour,[21] which is awarded each year, first for the "best competitive philosophical essay" and now for the best Faculty of Arts master's degree thesis at the University of Birmingham.

It sits on a plinth of three books, the spine of which are inscribed "Songs and Sonnets of Springtime and A Modern Apostle, The Elixir of Life, etc."

Mason College became the University of Birmingham in 1900, and the bust stands in the Cadbury Research Library Reading Room.

During the twentieth century the stone was broken up and buried, along with other memorials in the area; in 2010 it was excavated by the Friends of the Cemetery but it remained illegible.

Clare Stainthorp has published an overview of the first three decades of critical writings on Naden, in which she also suggests avenues for future research.