Full Idea
Scholastics lost their grip on hylomorphism as a metaphysical theory, conceiving of it as a concrete, physical hypothesis about causal forces. Once form and matter were made subject to empirical research, their days were inevitably numbered.
Gist of Idea
Hylomorphism declined because scholastics made it into a testable physical theory
Source
Robert Pasnau (Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 [2011], 06.1)
Book Reference
Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.101
A Reaction
Pasnau seems to make a sharp distinction between science, and a separate realm he labels 'metaphysical'. You can't keep causation out of Aristotelian hylomorphism. The defence is that it is at a higher level of generality than science.