Looking for the name of a philosopher It was definitely not Aristotle and I have considered the others postulated by Noah. I think it probably had an x in there somewhere. Problem is finding the right combination of words to google!
I actually came up with his two causes idea independently and later found he already thought of it.
As for its validity. I have brought up the problem on several sites and no one has debunked it to my satisfaction(indeed the more I present the idea the more convinced I am it is correct). The glitch is in making people understand that you cannot have an infinite past. I just know instinctively that it is illogical but everyone else seems to not see it. And try describing an instinct.
I have found a problem with the notion of an infinite past which the philosopher in question did not cover. If the universe has existed for ever then that means it has crossed an infinite amount of time to get to NOW. But it is impossible to cross an infinite amount of time.
What this means is that the universe has no logical genesis and we have to consider it as magical or miraculous and that science will never explain where it came from using the scientific method.
People get very angry when I pose this conundrum, like their very sense of reality is under threat...which it is.