An important role in sustainable rural development, involving economy, local communities and nature, should be played by ethics. This paper presents a theoretical and empirical characterization of basic problems of ecological ethics. First and foremost, the study characterizes the philosophical fundamentals of this ethics, with emphasis on ontological and anthropological views of selected thinkers. A universal concept of ecological ethics was proposed, containing values and moral norms that point to realization of this concept. Furthermore, the paper emphasizes empirical aspects of ecological ethics which manifest themselves in the awareness of inhabitants of rural areas. With respect to this topic, we presented selected results of the empirical survey carried out in rural areas in Poland by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The presentation of these results was preceded by a short discussion about relationships between ecological ethics and market economy ethics. The paper is based on the analysis of the related literature, legal documents and results of empirical surveys.