In philosophy naïve realism is used to describe the belief that physical objects continue to exist when they are no longer perceived. It can be contrasted with solipsism.

In the philosophy of perception naïve realism is the most straight-forward theory of perception. It is a theory that proposes that things are perceived directly. Naive Realism is believed by children before they discover that what they are actually seeing is based on two, disparate images in their eyes which are translated into electrical impulses in their brain where a single percept is resolved. A more sophisticated version of naive realism, known as Direct Realism, proposes that we perceive things directly using some unspecified direct connection through a chain of cause and effect.

See also instrumentalism - confirmation holism - scientific materialism - critical realism - scientific realism